The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Tokyo
by Yar Kramer
Summary: In a city where those from many different worlds meet up ... A clandestine group of heroes battles against a dark magician and a woman who is part-monster, guided by a demonic god ... (Chapter 13 up)
1. A New Arrival

All these characters belong to their respective owners. The story, however, is ... well, okay, _it's_ not exactly mine, either, but it's better than the movie, I'm sure. ;) 

**_The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen_   
TOKYO**

Chapter 1   
A New Arrival

Latex and leather. Dark glasses, too, even though it was nighttime. And shoulders and arms bared, in a sharp contrast to her outfit; her red hair in a long braid seemed to be striking a balance between the two. That seemed to be the outfit of choice for her. 

Or at least, _someone's_ outfit of choice for her. 

She was crouched at the side of a bridge, looking over the edge onto the street below. It was empty, at this time of night, but she could see someone putting up a "wanted" poster. 

"When I get back," she said in a low voice into her cell phone (which was black), "I am going to take a nice, _hot_ shower. This outfit _really_ makes me feel dirty." 

_"Okay, fine,"_ said the voice on the other end. _"But this was the best way, wasn't it? I mean, to get his attention ..."_

"You mean a sexy girl?" she said bluntly. 

_"Well ... You _do_ seem to be the most desirable of your gender, whether you're --"_

"Thanks," she said sarcastically. "Okay, so what kind of timing will I need?" 

_"Just follow the gunshots,"_ said the phone, _"and get him outta there like a bat outta hell."_

The girl nodded, closed it up, and put it in her pocket, before standing up. 

* * * * *

The worker finished putting up the "wanted" sign and squinted. "Now _that_ is one frickin' huge reward." 

"Yeah," said his partner, with a shrug. "I suppose there's no chance of getting what this guy _looks_ like?" 

"Dunno," said the first worker. "I guess we'd just follow the gunshots, and the sounds of the city getting smashed." 

The other man chuckled. "Yeah ... well, c'mon, we still have to put these signs up near Lower Southern before it gets too light ..." He glanced to the southeast; neither of them noticed as the girl silently snuck by behind them. She glanced at the signs they'd put up, and her eyes widened. The reward was _sixty billion --!?_

Of course, she had to concentrate and get to the end of the walk, sneak around the entrance wall, and then get across the street, halfway down a block, and duck into an alleyway without anyone catching her. Pretty simple ... 

She was almost at the alleyway before she heart the shout and footsteps. Oh, _great_. So much for getting there unnoticed ... the best she could hope for was cover. 

And then the gunshots started. Hmm ... they didn't seem to be aimed at her. Well, that could be good _or_ bad, depending on who they _were_ aimed at. And _then_ she heard a scream: it was high-pitched, but with an unidentifiable masculinity to it. The voice then added, "Don't hurt me! I didn't do anything to you! Why's everyone so mean to me!?" 

She narrowed her eyes. Yep, that was who she was after. 

A blur of red appeared at the end of the alleyway, and she immediately grabbed it and pulled in in. The red seemed to be a skinny red trenchcoat, with a blonde spiky head on top of it, with wide, panic-filled eyes in the front. "Gah!" said the head. "Who are you!?" 

"I'm here to save you from the bounty hunters," said the girl. "My name's Ranma." 

The eyes focused on her, and then the trenchcoat snapped to attention. "Most pleased to meet you!" he exclaimed, kneeling in front of her and taking her hand, giving it a kiss. "And I, as you know, am --" 

"Vash the Stampede, right," said Ranma. She noticed that his right arm seemed to have black metal in it. "Now c'mon, we've gotta move fast." She looked at the back end of the alleyway. Looked like there was only one door. 

"But of course!" said Vash. "Anything for a beautiful young --" 

"Spare me," said Ranma. Someone outside shouted that he'd gone down an alleyway, and the footsteps got nearer. She jumped into the air, and knocked the door down with a single kick. 

"Aheh ... you must get that kind of thing a lot, huh?" said Vash, as the two of them darted into the building. 

"Like you wouldn't believe," said Ranma, looking around. They were in a basement, filled with various clutter. "But don't expect me to _respond_." 

"Awww ..." Vash seemed genuinely disappointed. 

Ranma scowled. "And don't give me that," she said, running towards the stairs. "Anyone who's survived as long as you have with a SIXTY BILLION DOLLAR PRICE on his head has GOT to have either phenomenal intelligence and skill, or unbelieveable dumb luck." 

"Ummm ..." Vash paused at the bottom, looking up she hurried up the stairs and trying not to get a nosebleed. "Would you believe a little of both?" 

"Yeah, right," said Ranma, pulling open the door at the top of the stairs ... 

... and revealing a group of five men dressed in black outfits, each with a large red letter R on their chest. And all of them were looking past her at Vash. 

"We've got 'im now!" said one of them. 

"And I don't matter?" said Ranma sweetly. 

Another one sniggered. "Step aside, little girl, if ya don't want to get hurt!" he said, shoving her aside, intending to knock her to the ground. 

Ranma landed on her feet, and then ran towards them. She delivered a flying kick to the first speaker of them, knocking him into another, karate chopped two others in the head, and spun around to face the second speaker as she landed. She jumped into the air -- and this is where, if this was a movie, it would have a "bullet-time rotation" effect around them -- and then kicked the man in the chest, knocking him into the far wall. 

"You do NOT call me 'little girl,'" she said. 

"That was COOL!" said Vash. 

"Just c'mon," said Ranma. 

* * * * *

They ran through the night, pursued by gunfire at nearly every turn. "Great," said Ranma. "At this rate we'll _never_ get there unnoticed." 

"Oh ... you don't want them to see us get somewhere?" 

Ranma shrugged, looking out of an alleyway and then ducking back at the sound of a gunshot. Let's see, they were in Lower Southwest ... "Well, I'll settle for just getting down a subway without them catching us, but ..." 

"Okay then!" said Vash, pulling out a silver gun that Ranma hadn't noticed before. "MWAHAHAHAHAHA, I AM VASH THE STAMPEDE! FEAR MY WRATH!" He fired a shot into the air. The gunshots began to sound more panicked, and seemed to be starting to retreat. "Get out of here! I am wanted for the destruction of several towns! You do not want me to start with _you_!" 

Despite herself, Ranma was impressed. It hadn't occurred to her to use a reputation for massive destruction as an _advantage_. Maybe she was too good-natured. 

"Be off with ye, or I shall knock you all down!" exclaimed Vash, firing off another shot into the air as peoples backs became more visible than their guns. "I shall steal all your girlfriends and (hey Ranma, got a subway yet?) knock down your buildings! No, wait ... I will knock down your buildings and knock _up_ --" 

"Come ON!" said Ranma, almost pulling him down the stairs. 

The subway station was closed, but they weren't here to catch a train. "This way," said Ranma, then winced as her voice echoed. 

"Ooh, so _this_ is a subway!" said Vash. "I thought it was one of those restaurants that --" 

"Um, no, it's also the name of a type of sandwich," said Ranma. "C'mon ... I know my way around these tracks. We'll be safe pretty soon." 

"Safe?" said Vash. "You mean ... without me having to save a town?" 

Ranma jumped off the platform. "Aren't you known for _destroying_ a bunch of towns?" she asked as she started running down the tunnel. 

There was a sound like heavy cloth folding up behind her. "Oof ... It wasn't _my_ fault! Things just happen around me ..." 

"I see," said Ranma, taking a left at a fork in the tracks. "So, bad luck it is then, hmm?" 

"Ayup!" 

* * * * *

They continued on in silence. After a few turns, Vash said, "Ranma?" 

"Yeah?" 

"Are we there yet?" 

"Almost," said Ranma, in a tone of voice that conveyed that she was _trying_ to be patient with him. 

"Oh," said Vash. "Why are we walking?" 

"Because just about _any_ kind of vehicle is easier to track down than two or three people on foot," said Ranma. "Makes too much noise, for one thing. Besides," she added with a smirk, "I'm much smaller and more maneuverable, wouldn't you say?" 

Vash considered this. "Yep, you got that right." 

"C'mon," said Ranma, turning around a bend to a section of tracks that seemed as though they hadn't had any maintenance in the past, oh, century. 

"What's this?" said Vash. 

"Abandoned subway," said Ranma. "We're reasonably safe from running into anyone. Or at least," she added, "anyone on the wrong side. Anyone we _do_ meet will ..." She considered this. "... understand." 

"Will they understand about me?" said Vash apprehensively. 

Ranma paused; there a light up ahead. Definitely the right way. "Hmm, point. But I'm sure we could handle the ones who _don't_ with no trouble." 

"Yeah, I mean, cuz, the price on my head is pretty big ... Hey, wow!" 

They arrived at an abandoned subway station. It had obviously gone unused at _least_ as long as the tracks had. 

"Wow," said Vash again. "This is cool!" 

"Our destination is just up the stairs from here," said Ranma. "Then you'll get some explanations ..." 

"Explanations?" said Vash. 

Ranma had to remind herself that she was dealing with someeone who appeared to be, on the face of it, an idiot. "What, you aren't wondering why you've suddenly appeared in this strange city with no warning?" 

"Nope!" said Vash cheerfully. 

Ranma sighed. "Let's just go." 

When they went up the stairs, they found themselves in a row of buildings that seemed to be less urban than the section they were in before. "Here we go," said Ranma. "The place is over there ..." She pointed at a quaint looking shop with a sign that said ARS MAGICA, and then approached. 

"Ooh, is that one of those mysterious magic shops that always disappears the next day?" asked Vash enthusiastically. 

"No," said Ranma, heading towards the back of the building. "Well ... one out of three ain't bad, anyway ..." 

"Actually, it's only thirty-three percent," pointed out Vash. 

Ranma blinked. "Vash, have you ever read a book called _Soul Music_ by Terry Pratchett?" 

"Nope!" said Vash. "What's up with all these questions?" 

"Just a thought," said Ranma. She knocked on the back door. 

A small, rectangular section of the door faded away, revealing a pair of eyes. Then the door itself opened, revealing a tall, blonde-haired man wearing a long grey trenchcoat. "Ah, you got 'im," he said. Behind him was what looked like a storeroom. 

"Right," said Ranma. "You take 'im to see Zel." She left the room. 

"Zel?" said Vash. 

"Our de facto boss," said the man. "I'm Seifer Almasy, by the way ... and you must be Vash the Stampede." 

"Ayup!" said Vash. 

"Okay," said Seifer. "C'mon with me. He's upstairs doing some alchemical work." He turned to go through another door; Vash saw that, strapped to his back, was what looked like a large shotgun. Or at least, it had the handle of a shotgun, anyway. 

Vash blinked with that particular kind of confusion found in people who have trouble with big words. "Alchemical ...?" he said. 

"Yeah, really," said Seifer. They entered a short hallway with stairs leading up on one side. At the end, Vash saw what looked like the inside of the store. "There's all kinds of crazy crap goin' on in this city ..." 

"And do you guys do some of it?" asked Vash, hurrying up the stairs after him. 

"Well ... a little," said Seifer, pausing at the top. "Hey, Zel, Ranma got 'im!" 

The room was large and spacious. It seemed to be some sort of residence, but it was the residence of someone who didn't merely dabble in the occult but was, in fact, a part of it. Astrological charts covered one wall, posters with mystical symbols and incomprehensible diagrams were on another. There were tables with chemical apparati that had apparently been made by a glassblower who had been having a coughing fit, and various multicolored liquids; there were shelves of what it's probably best to merely refer to as "spell components." 

In the middle of the room, sitting inside a circle of symbols and candles, was a man wearing white, hooded robes. His face was hidden in shadow, but there was something odd about it. When he spoke, his voice was soft, and almost pleasant. He said, "Yes, I know. I'd been scrying to see the result of the mission; it always pays to know the winner in advance." 

He stood up and pulled back his hood; his skin seemed to be made of blue rock, and his hair wasn't much better. He smiled as he stepped out of the circle, and said, "Welcome, Vash the Stampede. My name is Zelgadis." 


	2. The World of Worlds

**_The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen_   
TOKYO**

Chapter 2   
The World of Worlds

Vash simply gawked. Zelgadis filed this away for future reference. "To the question that _must_ be on your mind _now,_" he said with a faint smile, "I'm a chimera: one-third golem, one-third demon, and one-third human. I'm like this because of ... well, a sorceror in my homeworld called Rezzo the Red Priest." 

"Uh ... homeworld?" said Vash. 

Zelgadis clapped his hands, and the candles went out, while several oil lamps dotted around the room flared to life, illuminating it better. "I realize that your world simply had the wrong ... _science_, I suppose you could call it, for this sort of thing," he said, "but the fact of it is ... this city, called Tokyo, is in a different world from your own." 

"You mean like a different planet?" asked Vash, scratching his head in confusion. 

"No," said Zelgadis. "I suppose it's better to think of them as different universes ... even though by strict definition there's only one 'universe.' In technical terms, it occupies a different set of spatial dimensions from your own." 

"Oh, different _dimensions_," said Vash. "Right, I gotcha. So, uh, how did I get here?" 

"It's hard to explain," said Zelgadis carefully. "There's ... so many 'versions' in different alternate dimensions of this city, Tokyo. Some scholars have theorized that there are more versions of this city than any other -- including supposedly more _major_ cities such as Chicago and London." He shrugged. "In _this_ Tokyo, there has been ... dimensional instabilities, which led to quite a few people arriving here from _other_ dimensions -- and other landmarks, as well." He hoped that Vash's knowing about multiple dimensions allowed him to use phrases like "dimensional instability" in cold blood. 

Vash stared. "How many people?" he asked. 

"Over fifteen million," said Zelgadis. "And no twelve people are from the same dimension." 

"Whoa ..." said Vash. He suddenly turned to look straight at Zelgadis, frowning, a focused look in his eyes that hadn't been in there before. "How many from mine?" he asked sharply. 

Zelgadis frowned. "To my knowledge," he said, "precisely one. And that's you." 

Vash seemed to deflate. "Whew! What kind of stuff goes on here?" 

Seifer shook his head, an I-can't-believe-this-guy look on his face. Zelgadis could understand what was going through his mind; it was, for some reason, much more comforting to think of Vash as an idiot than as someone who was too intelligent to be reasoned with easily. "Well, let me see," said Zelgadis. He went over and picked up a newspaper. "Ah, here we go ..." he said, scanning the headlines. "'Young girl spirited away to otherworld _bathhouse_' ... hmm ... 'Half-demon defeats full demon, claims he was only in it to find a shard of the Shikon jewel' ... 'Tokyo Bay Bridge destroyed in battle with giant mechaniloid' ... 'Lost prince of Jurai found, now has several suitors' ..." 

Vash looked over his shoulder. "He looks pretty dorky," he said. 

Zelgadis put down the newspaper. "Yes ... And since our arrival here, we've learned to expand our previous abilities. For example, Ranma's taken up the art of stealth, Seifer has gained more skill with his gunblade, as well as controlling his temper better, and I've been trying to learn as many forms of magic as possible." 

Vash nodded, apparently letting the term 'gunblade' slide. "So, uh, who are you guys, specifically?" he asked. 

"We've been bickering about the name for a while, but Seifer discovered a good name for us," said Zelgadis, "when reading a comic book. We are the League of Extroardinary Gentlemen, Tokyo Division." He smirked slightly. "And, in this world at least, the _only_ division. We're a group of men who are dedicated to protect the city from any threat." 

"Men? What about Ranma?" asked Vash. "She was pretty cute ..." 

"Well, there _are_ a few women," said Zelgadis. 

"Vash," said Ranma, coming up the stairs behind him, "I think there's something about me you should know." 

Vash turned. "Yeah?" 

She was wearing a dark blue gym outfit, but had on a tank top that appeared to have been designed for men, so Vash had a better view of certain ... attributes. She was also carrying a bucket of water that was steaming slightly. Zelgadis had to hide a grin, and Seifer didn't bother to, while Vash completely failed to suppress a high-pitched nervous giggle. Ranma sighed, and promptly dumped the bucket over her head. 

Zelgadis had seen this before, so all his attention was focused on Vash, as his expression went from surprise, to confusion as he _watched_ Ranma become a few inches taller ... with black hair ... her figure changing ... 

And then Vash, his face a carefully designed expression of shock, reached out and poked Ranma's chest. 

Ranma folded _his_ arms across _his_ chest. "Yeah, I get this a lot." 

Vash explained his surprise: "You're ... a guy!" 

"Oh, _really!_" said Seifer. "Never woulda guessed he wasn't still a cute little girl!" 

"Watch it," said Ranma good-naturedly. 

Vash was still a bit behind on things. "But ... but ... she was a girl ... and now she's a guy ... but then she was a ..." 

"Ranma Saotome," said Zelgadis, "has a curse which causes him to transform into an attractive young woman when splashed with cold water. Hot water temporarily reverses the process." 

Vash stammered, "But I almost hit on her!" 

"Well, at least you can get it into your _head_ that we're the same person," said Ranma. "In _my_ world ..." 

"Yes, Ranma, we know about the whole love dodecahedron between you, every single female you came into contact with, and every single male Akane and sometimes you came into contact with, including Kuno." 

Ranma rounded on him. "Hey, it wasn't like --" 

They were interupted by a light tapping at the window. Without a word, Zelgadis stood up and opened it. "That would be Soma," he said. 

A blue-white bat flew into the room, flitted over one of the tables, and then transformed, suddenly, into a slightly pale young man with blonde hair, dressed in a white trenchcoat, a black shirt, and blue jeans. 

"Augh! A vampire!" screamed Vash. 

"Sort of," said the newcomer. "I'm Soma Cruz. And you are?" 

Vash grinned. "I am known as Valentinez Alkalinella Xifax Sicidabohertz," he said, "Gombigobilla Blue Stradivari Talentrent Pierre Andri Charton-Haymoss Ivanovici Baldeus George Doitzel Kaiser the Third! Don't hesitate to call!" 

There was a pause. Everyone was waiting to see what Soma would do next. And then, a bit too casually, he said, "And how many people _do_ call you?" 

"Uh, not many," said Vash, scratching his head. "Mostly they just try to kill me." 

"I can't imagine why," said Soma. 

"Unless I save the town somehow," said Vash. "Then they call out, 'Hey, it's Vash the Stampede!'" 

Soma nodded. "Oh, right, you're the one with the sixty-billion-dollar price on your head." 

"Sixty-billion _double_-dollar," corrected Vash. 

"Right. And _I'm_ the heir to Dracula's power," said Soma matter-of-factly. He turned to Zelgadis. "I did -- What's up with _him!?_" 

"Culture shock, probably," said Ranma, helping Vash to his feet. "He's probably heard of your, um, predecessor." 

Soma rolled his eyes. "Well, anyway, I did what you suggested, Zel. Remember? When I was ticked off at Seifer?" 

"Hey, _you're_ the one who started it," said Seifer. 

"Yes, I sarcastically suggested that you go and see if you could sense any presences that were darker than yourself," said Zelgadis smoothly. "I spoke with the assurance of one whose neck is a layer of solid rock with blood that is probably inedible underneath it. And?" 

"I did," said Soma. 

Zelgadis frowned. Things were moving faster than he'd anticipated. "Why? Where was it?" 

"Huh? What're you talking about?" said Vash, looking around. 

"One of those threats he mentioned," said Seifer. 

"I'm not sure," said Soma. "I think it was near the Tokyo Bay Bridge." 

"Didn't that get destroyed?" asked Vash. 

"It's always mysteriously repaired when no one's looking," said Zelgadis. "I'd better check the Mandala -- which is a magical artifact I devised for detecting dimensional disturbances ..." 

* * * * *

The back room of the Ars Magica shop had even _more_ magical apparatus than the upstairs room. There were numerious potions and powders, with labels in an incomprehensible script, and the focus seemed to be less on alchemy and "traditional" magic than on simply getting the right effect without mucking about with all that "lizards' eyes and catfeathers" nonsense. 

On one table there was a pan that seemed to be connected to a bizzare machine with an LCD display and an array of buttons. The pan itself was filled with multicolored sands that were constantly swirling around with a whispering noise in a mezmerizing fashion. The group stared at it. 

"So, uh, what's this?" asked Vash. 

"The Mandala," said Zelgadis, adjusting the controls. "I had to adjust it phenomenally to get any kind of comprehensible reading, since this city is practically _made_ of dimensional instabilities. This is what most dimensions look like." He pushed a button on the device, and the colors were all replaced by a uniform drab tan, with a faint hint of green in one corner. 

"So, not very ... active, huh?" said Vash. 

"No," agreed Zelgadis. "Now _this_ ..." He pushed another button. There was a cacophany of sifting sands, the mandala randomly shifting colors, almost too fast to make out the distinctions. "... is what it looked like before I adjusted it." 

"What does it look like now?" asked Vash. 

Zelgadis pushed another button, and it reverted to the previous swirling colors, with a noticeable green spot in one corner. "Okay ... this is the area around the Tokyo Bay Bridge. That green spot, with the rotation of mauve at the edges, means that something is _about_ to arrive there. Hmm, that's odd ... you said you already sensed it?" 

"Yeah," said Soma. "It might have been some sort of premonition, though ..." 

Zelgadis nodded. "All right ... go and see if you can find Zero and Dita. They're mechanical, so they shouldn't be as affected if it has an aura of darkness ... Seifer, you and I will go as well. Ranma, Vash, I'll bring the tracking crystal so that you can watch me in the Orb." 

"What's the Orb?" asked Vash. 

"It's kinda like a crystal ball that can only focus on one thing," said Ranma. "Plus it's clearer than most crystal b--" 

"If any of the others arrive, tell them where we are," said Zelgadis. "I just hope that it isn't more than we can handle ..." 


	3. Black Magic

Note: The Three Laws of Robotics mentioned below belong to Isaac Asimov, who didn't make any anime, but MegaMan fanfiction has used the Three Laws to death (and the First Law is referenced in Mega Man 7 and the MegaMan X series). For those of you who don't know, here they are: 

1. A robot must not injure a human being, or through inaction allow a human being to come to harm. 

2. A robot must obey orders given it by a human being, except when they would conflict with the First Law. 

3. A robot must protect its own existence, so long as this does not conflict with the First or Second laws. 

**_The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen_   
TOKYO**

Chapter 3   
Black Magic

It seemed terribly unfair to Soma that, while he could fly, he was forced to do so in the shape of a bat, which wasn't so bad, except that it put a _serious_ hindrance as far as dramatic posing was concerned. It _also_ meant that you couldn't put on headphones and listen to something stylish like Juno Reactor's "Komit." 

As it was, he flew through the night in silence, searching for two people who were not, in fact, "people" by a few definitions ... 

* * * * *

He looked like a young man in a red sweater, with waist-length hair in a ponytail. She looked like a young woman with black hair, dressed in a black outfit that looked gothic and revealing. There was something odd about them, though -- apart from anything else, the girl had red eyes, and there was the _length_ of the boy's hair. But there was definitely something _odd_ about them -- the way they stood, the perfect smoothness of their face, the way they moved, in fact, mechanically. This was because they were. 

"What are you thinking?" asked the young woman. 

"I'm thinking about how ironic it is," he said. "About how, here I am, Zero, one of the most advanced robots in existence, the second of my kind, in fact, and I wasn't made with the Three Laws of Robotics because I was supposed to make those kinds of decisions for myself..." He turned to her with a wry smirk. "And what's more, I'm speaking on equal terms to you, Dita, a Persocon, supposedly one of the _least_ advanced kinds of robots out there, who wasn't made with the Three Laws because you're not supposed to be bright enough _or_ strong enough to be able to even _consider_ harming or disobeying humans. Or getting yourselves hurt," he added. 

Dita returned the smirk. "I'd say each of us is ironic enough in our _own_ right," she said. 

Zero nodded, looking up at the sky. "Yeah, I was designed by my creator to destroy the world, and -- Hey, here comes Soma." 

The small white bat wheeled down to them and transformed into a large white human. This _still_ vaguely irritated Zero when he watched this, as his sensors tried to ... well ... make _sense_ of what they were looking at. "Sorry to interrupt your date, but something's up," he said. 

"Date!?" said Dita indignantly, but Zero said, "What's up?" 

"Dimensional disturbance. Someone's coming," said Soma. "And I can sense something bad _already,_ so we'd better hurry. It's at the Tokyo Bay Bridge." 

"All right," said Zero, and he vanished in a flash of red light that shot into the sky. 

Dita stared at where he'd been for a moment, and then shook her head. "I hate it when he does that." 

Almost immediately, Zero reappeared, took Dita's arm, and _both_ of them vanished this time. 

* * * * *

By a bizzare coincidence, in one of the alternate worlds that had merged with this one, the Golden Gate Bridge was in Tokyo. It was called the Tokyo Bay Bridge, and in any given year it was destroyed at least two hundred and sixty-six times. 

Tonight it seemed darker than usual, and there was a mysterious blue mist all around it. Zero appeared first, wearing his red battle armor, with Dita standing next to him. Shortly thereafter, Soma, Zelgadis, and Seifer ran up and complained about how Zero's teleportation, which could harm organic life forms, was unfair. Zero's response that he couldn't help it and that they should just get some teleport magic that would work just as well, and the organic life forms informed him that magic was a bit unreliable in that regard. 

Zero rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, so just witness my perfection, and all that crap." 

Seifer snickered. "Now don't be going Maverick on us now," he said. 

"Yeah," said Soma, "the last thing we need is a mindless, nigh-invincible killing machine on ... our ... hands ..." He frowned, looking out over the bridge. Suddenly, in the mists, there was a bright green glow, accompanied by a loud, sharp tone, and then abruptly faded. 

"Well, it looks like our visitor just arrived," said Zelgadis. "Let's go see who it is ..." 

Then a figure stepped out of the mists towards him. There was a dark aura around him, as if light that went near him illuminated him only, and avoided everything behind him. He had a black cape that was red on the inside, and rimmed shoulder armor ... 

He seemed to be looking at everything around him, with the air of someone who would simply enjoy destroying everything he saw. 

"Hello," said Zelgadis, narrowing his eyes cautiously. 

The man turned to face them directly. "Oh, hello," he said, with the faint smirk of someone gloating on your impending doom. "I am the black magician Zio. And who might you be? Where am I?" 

"My name is Zelgadis," said Zelgadis. "This city ... I suppose you could say it's a nexus point of dimensions, where many people have been transported ..." 

Zio suddenly appeared interested. "A nexus of dimensions?" he said. "The dimensional fabric is weaker here?" 

"What if it is?" said Seifer. Plainly, none of them trusted him; Vash would probably be cowering behind a tree now, and Ranma would have unconsciously slipped into a combat stance. 

Zio grinned. The look of his eyes was one of someone who would delight in taking revenge, and was about to. "Then, in that case, things are likely to become -- let's say -- hard to live in here soon," he said. 

"If you're plannin' on destroying something," began Zero, reaching up for his beamsaber. 

"The entire world," said Zio, his grin widening. 

Zelgadis exchanged a glance with the others. They didn't need to say anything else. They each drew their swords (although in Seifer's case it was a gunblade and in Zero's case the blade was green and made of plasma), and Dita pulled out a small handgun. 

A green glow surrounded Zio for a moment. "Go ahead and try to harm me," he said. "Playtime is over!" 

Dita fired, and the bolt of light simply vanished when it neared Zio. Zero and Soma tried to slash at him, but seemed to hit nothing but air. 

The man in black gave a low, unpleasant chuckle. "Nothing can penetrate my Magic Barrier," he said. 

"How about a spell?" said Zelgadis. "LIGHT ARROWS!" Several bolts of light lanced out at Zio -- 

-- and impacted against a green glow surrounding him. 

"Hmm ... I may have actually felt that," said Zio. "Oh, well." He shrugged, and gestured upwards. 

The face of a _beast_ appeared above his head. (Or was it behind him? Was it just an illusion?) It was as blue as the mists, and skull-like, and leered at them with glowing red eyes. 

"Betcha I could get through to him," said Seifer. "Dispel!" An aura of power surrounded him for an instant ... 

And then the green sphere of Zio's magic barrier appeared, and then seemed to disintegrate. 

"Now!" said Zelgadis. He threw a fireball at Zio, and it seemed to scorch him. 

"Arrghh ..." Zio's eyes burned with rage. "You will pay for that, demihuman! Black Wave!" The image of the beast moved slightly, so that Zio was directly between it and Zelgadis. 

And then there was blackness and red. 

* * * * *

Zelgadis realized that, when he opened his eyes, he was going to wish he hadn't. He came to this conclusion, because this always, _always_ happens. 

He finally gave into inevitability and opened his eyes. It promptly felt like there were knives sticking into them. "Ouch ..." 

"Relax ..." That was probably Soma's voice. "Zero had to teleport you out of there, and then Seifer had to use up a lot of his Cure spells ..." 

"Ah," said Zelgadis. "I guess that explains the fact that I feel like there's a chemical imbalance in my brain ..." He was finally able to look around enough to see that he was lying in his bed in the upstairs room. 

"Well, yeah," said Soma, taking a step away from the bed. "Some of the scientists in the Hunters here have been working like _hell_ on the problem of teleporting humans and, uh, partly-humans since they _got_ here, but ..." 

"Zel!" exclaimed Vash, barreling upstairs. "You all right!?" 

"I'll probably live," said Zelgadis, wincing. "But is there any chance you could please _not_ burst in shouting like that, Vash?" 

* * * * *

Two minutes later, Vash was sitting dejectedly in the front room of the store. This place was the most economic in nature, and merely showed the _results_ of the magical workings in the back room and upstairs. "So, uh, what exactly _are_ you? If you don't mind me asking ..." 

Zero shrugged. "I'm what's technically known as a Repliroid. That's a kind of android -- basically a robot that can think, feel, and reason exactly like a human." He smirked. "To the point that I, too, can make snide remarks and hit on females of my kind." 

Dita snorted. "Watch it," she said. 

"What about you?" asked Vash. 

"I'm a Persocon -- sort of like a PC accessory," said Dita. "Technically, we're not supposed to be anywhere _near_ the level Repliroids are at, but ..." She shrugged. "Well, I was tracking down this program that could potentially affect all Persocons in my world, and it got into my system ..." 

It was amazing how either a human or mechanical mind could deal with a situation between crises, or during a crisis when there's nothing to do. They were a group of heroes dedicated to defending the city, facing a new foe, with their leader fallen, and unsure what was going to happen next ... and they had reverted to normal conversation and small talk. It might have even continued like that, if the building hadn't suddenly began shaking. 

"What in the _world_!?" yelled Vash. 

Zero looked around. "An earthquake ... or ..." 

The building stopped shaking, and began creaking from an abrupt excessive wind. 

"Guys!" said Ranma, rushing in from outside. "You'd better come see this!" 

* * * * *

This version of Tokyo was surrounded by forest, mountain, and ocean, and one of the mountains had suddenly been torn out of the ground. It flew up several miles into the air. 

The top soon disintegrated, raining the ground below with boulders, and then a glow appeared on top of it. The rocks lengthened, became a more regular shape, until it looked like there was a building there. 

No, not just a building -- a castle. A dark, foreboding castle that, in the darkness of night, seemed to absorb all light that was cast on it. 

And then, without any warning, there was a ripple in the air, almost as if it was from heat or humidity, and then the whole thing vanished. 

Many people saw it. One of them watched from the city's governmental complex. He watched it with _great_ interest. 


	4. The Man In Charge

**_The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen_   
TOKYO**

Chapter 4   
The Man In Charge

The next morning, the newspapers and news channels were in an uproar. Everything was filled with speculations on what had happened, or why, and what that burn mark on the Tokyo Bay Bridge meant. (The fact that it was gone within hours wasn't even mentioned.) 

Vash, however, was oblivious to all this. This had mainly to do with the fact that he was sleeping in a hotel room. The hotel owner had seemed to be a bit uneasy about housing Vash the Stampede, but Ranma had said he (although, currently, she) would make sure he didn't blow anything up. The most explosive thing Vash did was snore. 

For breakfast, Vash had donuts. "Why you eatin' toast?" he asked with his mouth full. 

"Because it's healthy," said Ranma, pointedly swallowing first. 

"Cool," said Vash, swallowing and immediately picking up another one. "Y'know, I was just wondering ... how's the government here run?" 

"Officially, it's a democracy," said Ranma, sitting back in her chair. "But really it's more a plutocratic bureaucracy, with the President really more of an absolute monarch." 

Vash paused in mid-donut. "I have no idea what you just said." 

Ranma sighed. "Basically, it's like a mean king, only not." 

"Oh, I get it," said Vash, and resumed eating. 

Ranma stared for a few seconds, and then shook her head, grinning. "Sometimes I wonder about you, Vash the Stampede ..." 

"Wonder what?" asked Vash. 

There was a knock at the door. "I'll get it," said Ranma, going over. 

She opened the door, then promptly slammed it shut. "C'mon, we're going out through the window!" 

Vash looked around in confusion. "Huh!?" 

The door was slammed open by a figure in a grey trenchcoat, apparently wearing riot armor underneath, and with a sort of combat helmet with "H.O.L.D." on the front. 

"Ah, I see," said Vash, even as Ranma began hurriedly opening the window. 

More of the H.O.L.D. troops poured into the room, machine guns raised, and began to open fire on Vash. 

Not a single shot hit. The way he dodged and weaved, Ranma almost wondered if he was seeing things in Bullet Time. Her mind almost didn't even register for a few seconds when Vash did a backflip over her head, grabbed her by the back of her collar, and sailed out the window, pulling her with him. She was even _more_ surprised when they landed on their feet on the sidewalk below. 

"Whoa ..." She shook her head as if to clear it. "Okay, it's times like this I'm _glad_ I get smaller when I change ..." 

Vash seemed to consider this. "Yeah, I don't think it'd've been as easy if you were -- Look out!" 

Five more H.O.L.D. troops were running towards them, guns ready but not aimed quite yet. 

"I'll handle these guys," said Ranma. 

"You ever gone up against guys with guns before!?" exclaimed Vash. 

Ranma smirked. "There's a first time for everything." 

As the first one brought his gun to bear, she leaped up, kicked off his gun, and swung her leg around to hit him in the side of his head. She kept moving, kicking the next one in the face and slamming him into the third -- 

-- and saw that the other two, five feet away now, were aiming their weapons at her. _Crap!_

There was a loud BANG and then one of them dropped his gun, which now had a smouldering hole in the side. The other turned to face Vash, who had his silver pistol out and aimed, and then the troop was abruptly struck by lightning. 

"Wha!?" exclaimed Vash. 

"Precisely what part of 'they are to be taken alive' was unclear to you?" said a cultured voice down the street. 

All three presently-conscious people whirled in surprise. Standing there was a tall man with blonde, dressed in a white coat, holding a large shotgun. 

The H.O.L.D. trooper saluted. "President Shinra, sir!" 

"Yes, indeed," said the man, stepping closer. "And I do not like my orderes to be disobeyed." He smirked slightly. "Mister Saotome -- or Miss, currently -- obviously knows who I am, but you, Vash the Stampede, apparently don't. I am Rufus Shinra, president of this city ... and, in fact, most of the merged world." 

"Hi!" said Vash. 

Rufus chuckled, shaking his head as he arrived within five feet of them. "I must say, Vash the Stampede, that your reputation simply does _not_ do justice to meeting you in person." He tilted his head slightly. "I suppose asking you to come quietly is out of the question?" 

"How well can you fight?" asked Ranma, an odd note in her voice. 

"Quite well," said Rufus. "Especially since your arms and legs currently aren't long enough to hit me if I were to use my gun as a shield." 

Ranma blinked. "Good point," she said. She pulled out a thermos and spilled the contents onto her head, promptly transforming into her male form. He did a flying kick at Rufus's head, knocking him backwards onto the ground, and then kicked the H.O.L.D. trooper in the stomach. 

"C'mon, let's _go!_" yelled Ranma, starting to run the other way as she landed. 

Rufus got to his feet as he watched them run away. "Bring them alive," he growled through gritted teeth, "if it is at all reasonably feasible." 

* * * * *

"Sir! They've gone down one of the subways ... but we've lost track of them now ... No wait, I have a fix on them!" 

* * * * *

"That was tense," muttered Ranma as they ran through the subway. 

"Haven't we been through this before?" moaned Vash, dashing to keep up with him. 

Ranma's cell phone rang. "Yes?" he said, answering it. There was yelling on the other hand. "Yes, Seifer, I _did_ just kick President Shinra in the face." More shouting, with nervousness that gave Vash a run for his money. "Well what did you _want_ me to do?" 

There was a burst of red light and Zero appeared in full battle armor. There was a pair of handguns in holsters on his legs. "Hi," he said. "I'm here to be your backup." He grabbed each of them under one shoulder and leaped forward. There was a _fffshh_ of compressed air, and he rocketed forward at about sixty miles per hour. 

"Why didn't you do this with Zelgadis?" asked Vash, who sometimes had a traitorous memory for detail. 

"What, and leave my back wide open for Zio to blast me in the back?" he exclaimed. 

Vash looked ahead. "I'll shut up now," he whimpered. 

They shot through a junction, which had a large number of H.O.L.D. troops on either side who hadn't expected to have to deal with a Repliroid with dash boots. Zero cackled at the sound of stray shots ricocheting around them. 

"Whoo! That's awesome!" exclaimed Vash. 

"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" said Zero. 

"Uh, Zero," said Ranma apprehensively. "We're starting to go near ... um ... the ..." 

"The Abyss?" said Zero, almost conversationally, as the tracks started to dip downwards. The tracks seemed to come to an end ahead of them, as did the tunnel. 

"The WHAT!?" exclaimed Vash. 

"When the worlds merged, the sewer system and the subway system in this area got ... confused," said Ranma. 

"Hold on tight!" said Zero. 

Vash unleashed a loud shriek as they were launched out into a gigantic, cavernous chamber. They were a little ways below the ceiling, and the bottom was impossible to see, but rushing water could be heard. Several terrifying seconds later, they slammed into the far wall. 

"Ouch," mumbled Vash, managing to hold onto Zero's side through sheer force of will ... sort of. 

"Everyone still here?" asked Zero, who seemed to be attatched to the wall. "No one fell off?" 

"Nope, I'm fine," said Ranma. "I've been kicked farther and harder by Akane. And that was in my female form." 

"Good," said Zero. "The passage to the other part should be right above us. Hang on tight!" He jumped away from the wall ... 

... and with a burst from his dash boots, launched himself back _onto_ the wall, only higher up. He repeated this process several times, until, instead of hitting a wall, they landed at the top of a stairway leading into a passageway. 

In front of them was Rufus Shinra and a single H.O.L.D. trooper. 

"I must say I'm impressed," said Rufus calmly. "I never expected that the star of the Maverick Hunters would be among you, Zero Omega." 

"What are Maverick Hunters?" asked Vash. 

"Mavericks are Repliroids that go insane and try to kill people," said Zero, not taking his eyes away from Rufus. "Maverick Hunters hunt Mavericks." 

"I suppose _this_ time you're likely to want to come quietly?" said Rufus. "Although, this might mean that the sixty-billion double-dollar price on Vash the Stampede's head might need to be removed ..." 

"Uh ... I'm all for that, then!" said Vash. 

The President exchanged a glance with Ranma and Zero, who shrugged helplessly. "It will mean you're under arrest," said Rufus sharply. 

"Huh!?" Vash looked panicked. "I don't wanna be arrested! What did I ever do!?" 

"The destruction of several towns ring a bell?" asked Rufus, though there was a hint of doubt in his face. 

"Uh, apparently, that wasn't actually his fault," said Zero. "It was just dumb luck, near as we can figure out from his babblings." 

"Well, then, I guess we'll just have to put you under protective custody, won't we?" said Rufus pleasantly. "Come on, then -- I won't be caught off guard so easily _this_ time." He motioned down the passageway. 

* * * * *

Soma burst into the upstairs room. "Vash Ranma and Zero got arrested!" he shouted in one breath. 

Zelgadis shot upright. "What!?" he exclaimed. "Show me the Orb!" 

Against the the current medical knowledge of a chimera when pummeled with a Black Wave (which, admittedly, was practically nil), Zelgadis got out of bed. Sure enough, the trio was plainly visible in the Orb, being led through the sewers by Rufus Shinra and some H.O.L.D. troops. "Damn," muttered Zelgadis. "Now I _really_ wish we had a reliable magic teleport ..." 

"What do we do now?" asked Soma. 

Zelgadis stared into the Orb. "I have no idea," he said. "Attacking will only make our situation worse. I only hope that he'll ... understand our situation ..." 

"Remind me why we're sort of officially illegal?" said Soma. 

"Because, given our mission, the government would want to be involved in a way that would _not_ help our effectiveness," said Zelgadis. 

"And you're expecting Rufus Shinra to be understanding of this?" said Soma. 

"Not with much hope," said Zelgadis. "He's been ... at odds with an underground group before. Hmm ... what's that?" 

"What's what?" Soma squinted. "Huh ... it looks like ..." 

* * * * *

As the group rounded the corner, they were surprised to hear the sounds of someone sniffling and sobbing. Rufus gestured with a frown, and a H.O.L.D. troop stepped forward. The two of them approached the source of the sound. 

It appeared to be a girl, possibly in younger teens but with elongated, pointed ears. Her skin was pale, and she had flowing purple hair. She was wearing what looked like a blue swimsuit with gold trim, and a blue choker with an odd triangular design with three spokes. 

"Hello?" said Rufus cautiously. He glanced at the trio, who shrugged to indicate ignorance. 

The girl looked at him with tear-filled eyes. "She escaped," she whimpered. 

"Who did?" asked Rufus, not unkindly. He crouched next to her. 

"My ... my sister," said the girl. "She's ... my opposite ... and now she escaped ..." 

Rufus softly said, "I see ... What's your name?" 

She looked him in the eye. "Neifirst," she said. 

Rufus nodded. "What did your ... sister look like?" he asked. 

"Me ... but ..." Neifirst tugged at her suit. "Purple ..." 

Rufus nodded again. "All right," he said. "We'll make sure to look for her." He stood up. "Lieutenant, I want you to -- gack!" 

The H.O.L.D. troop shoved Rufus aside ... and then managed a strangled noise before he died. Neifirst pulled her claws from his back, a look of carnal bloodlust in her eyes. The other H.O.L.D. troops raised ther machine guns to fire, but she raised her hands, and all three were engulfed in flame. 

Zero drew his sword, and Ranma got into a combat stance. This was NOT going to be pretty ... 


	5. Aggressive Negotiation

**_The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen_   
TOKYO**

Chapter 5   
Agressive Negotiation

"What was _that!?_" exclaimed Zelgadis. 

Soma frowned. "It looked like that ..." Synonyms (or at least better words) failed him. "... _girl_ used some kind of fire spell -- an instantaneous-target one like the Firaga spells Seifer uses -- but these magic readings ..." He looked at a smaller crystal ball next to the Orb. "It isn't reading like any kind of spellcasting. Look, she wasn't even drawing any mystic energy from anything. And that _battle aura_ ... it looks like there's a bigger version of her there!" 

Zelgadis thought for a moment. "Where's Seifer?" 

"He went outside," said Soma. "He needed some fresh air after he saw Ranma kick the President ..." 

Zelgadis rolled his eyes. "Go have him join them. I've a feeling we'll need his Guardian Forces ..." 

* * * * *

What had broken loose can only be described as "all hell." Ranma could work well against armed and/or clawed opponents, and Zero had fought against Reploids that towered over _buildings_ -- and _gods_ knew Rufus and Vash could defend themselves -- but Neifirst was a monster. She countered Ranma's "Anything-Goes" martial arts and Zero's "Unbeatable Swordsman" techniques with "indiscriminate slashing", and her random movements made it impossible for Vash and Rufus to aim. 

"I never thought I'd be fighting _alongside_ you," commented Rufus as Neifirst slashed at both Zero, leaving claw marks in his armor, and Ranma, who managed to dodge at the last instant. "Oh, well ... I guess we'll have to use magic." He touched a green orb that seemed to be embedded in the side of his shotgun. It glowed, and then a bolt of lightning seemed to strike Neifirst from the ceiling. She snarled, apparently unhurt, and leaped at him, clawes outstretched ... 

... and there was a loud BANG as Vash fired a shot straight into her right shoulder. 

Neifirst let loose a bloodcurdling scream as her aim was thrown off, and she only managed to run Rufus through in his arm before she slammed into the ground. She got up, even more murder in her eyes than before, but she obviously knew that it's much harder to dodge a bullet when you're leaping straight _at_ the target. 

"I'm only gonna say this once," said Vash, a cold anger in his eyes. "Leave. Now." 

Neifirst grinned. "What, and spoil my fun?" She placed a hand on her wounded shoulder. There was a glow, and the shoulder wasn't wounded anymore. "You can't keep shooting-to-wound forever." 

Vash said, "I'm against killing," he said. And then he took aim at her eyes. "But ... I can kill a _monster_." 

"A monster?" said Neifirst sweetly. "Yes ... I suppose I am. But can you _really_ kill me in cold blood?" 

There was a pause. Vash appeared to be calling her bluff for a second ... and then he looked up. 

The others looked up, too. Above them, instead of a ceiling, there was a starry night sky. 

High up in orbit, a strange, blue-faced draconic figure with golden wings appeared. No, they weren't wings -- it looked like a bizzare golden _structure._ There appeared to be several holographic screens around it. 

Then, back in the subway-under-the-stars, there was a light from above, in the middle of the starfield. Neifirst seemed to be engulfed in a black haze for a moment ... 

And then she was standing on a multicolored grid, with the draconic creature in front of her. The grid bent and spun around it, so that Neifirst was moved above it. There was a blue circle on top of the "structure", and when she was directly above it, it began to glow, and a column of light rose up towards her. 

And then there was the planet. Or at least, it _looked_ like a planet. Most planets don't spontaneously transform into a glowing, multicolored sphere with arcane symbols, spinning around ... 

_...and then suddenly blasted Neifirst away, into what looked like the heart of a galaxy, which then exploded in a huge expanding black cloud of debris ..._

And then, the subway was back to normal, and Neifirst hit the ground where she'd stood before, grunted, and vanished in a shimmer of light. 

"Holy shit," said Zero when the dust had settled. "Seifer, when you summon a Guardian Force, you don't screw around! Doesn't even look like there's anything left ..." 

"Was I the only one who saw that thing as if I was watching a movie?" said Ranma, slightly nervous. 

"Nah, Guardian Forces like to give people a good view," said Seifer. "But she must've teleported somewhere. That last flash of light isn't usually there when I summon Eden ... How's the President?" 

"I'll mend," said Rufus, who was rummaging through a pocket with his uninjured hand. "I know I have some Cure materia in here somewhere ... Ah." He pulled a small green orb that looked identical to the orb already embedded in his shotgun, and then switched the two. He was surrounded by a greenish-yellow aura for a few seconds, and then a sparkling green haze healed his arm. "That was certainly interesting. I wonder what world she's from ..." 

"Are we still under arrest?" asked Vash plaintively. 

Rufus, who had not seen Vash go between his "see the happy moron" mode and the "you're _nicked_, buddy" form before, so he paused a moment before replying, "I'm sure that, once I have an _explanation_ for your activities, such actions will not be necessary. Although you _did_ kick me in the face," he added to Ranma. "People don't usually succeed in that and survive." 

Ranma thought fast. "Um ... self defense?" 

Rufus smirked. "I suppose I'll accept that. Now ... It's obvious to me that you are working _for_ someone, and before I can make any judgements, I'll have to speak with whoever he or she is." 

* * * * *

Neifirst felt as if every single inch of her body was bruised. She didn't know a thing about blacksmiths, but if she had, she would have compared it to being between the hammer and the anvil, which had then fallen on her. She used her NaRes technique, and promptly felt better. 

She looked around at her surroundings; she'd teleported randomly, and had no idea where she was now. If there was anyone else here, she would have to kill them. The room she was in was dark, but she saw the outline of a doorway in one wall. There was a voice on the other side, and it sounded as though it came from some sort of monitor or communicator. 

_"... individuals, but they fled after an encounter with a humanoid who called herself 'Neifirst.'"_

She blinked. It sounded like a newscast, but hadn't she just teleported away from that? 

_"She apparently escaped using a teleport spell after being hit with a summon by one of --"_

"Bah! That was no _spell,_" said another voice. 

Neifirst felt the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. That voice sounded cold, and finely calculated to send chills up someone's spine. It had a fundamental deadliness to it that she had only ever heard of in her own voice. 

"'Ryuka' is, of course, a Technique," the voice continued. There was a click, and the voice of the newscaster went silent. "Rather different from actual magic. Oh, and by the way, you were unconscious after you materialized, so I decided to bring you here. Do come out of that closet, would you?" 

Neifirst cautiously opened the door. "Interesting that you'd want to help me," she said. 

"Yes," said Zio. 

* * * * *

What _didn't_ make it to the news was the interview Rufus Shinra had with Zelgadis shortly thereafter, in the back room of the Ars Magica shop on opposite sides of a table. 

"So, Mr. ... Zelgadis," said Rufus. "Perhaps it would be best if you were to explain exactly what the purpose of your organization is, and why you've made every effort to evade detection by us." 

"Simply put," said Zelgadis, "the purpose of the League to defend against such threats as your military division is unable to handle. After all," he added, "a sixteen-year-old boy was currently a sixteen-year-old girl -- and therefore slightly smaller -- was able to singlehandedly take down several of your H.O.L.D. troops, and _you_." 

Rufus smirked. "I'll grant you that," he said. "And the reason for the secrecy?" 

"Well, for one thing, our group may contain several individuals who, for one reason or another, don't _want_ to be known," said Zelgadis. "Vash the Stampede, for one. As for you personally, your government would probably want to be in charge of us, and information on our activities would be passed along who knows where, and your system is frankly notorious for its leaks." 

Rufus nodded. "I understand that," he said. "But what the real problem is how much of your words I should trust." 

"Yes, I thought that might become a problem," said Zelgadis. "And that is the _third_ reason." 

Rufus smirked. "Indeed," he said. "I know about your confrontation with Zio, however." 

Zelgadis blinked. True, they hadn't _exactly_ been undercover, but he was _sure_ there hadn't been anyone -- 

"We discovered the magical signal between your Orb and the crystal it was focused on, and were able to get our own view," continued Rufus. "And what's more, we were able to get the sound to work as well." 

"Congratulations," said Zelgadis. "I suppose having a team of scientist who weren't working under cover of darkness helped in getting more features." 

"Indeed," said Rufus. "But what we saw was interesting, to say the least. What we _heard_ was even more interesting. Even if you aren't exactly being truthful about your fundamental purpose, you certainly have a reason to want to defeat this Zio." 

"Of course," said Zelgadis. "If I may ask ... If you knew all this, why did you try to arrest Vash and Ranma?" 

"I wanted to see how you'd react," said Rufus. "You can learn a lot about a person by their reaction to being arrested." 

"I see," said Zelgadis slowly. "So ... truce?" 

Rufus smirked, and extended his hand. "At least for now." They shook hands. "I won't need to ask for a list of names and abilities of your members -- I've already gotten a list through ... less conventional means than our intelligence agency." 

Zelgadis arched an eyebrow. "Means which are less likely to be leaked?" 

"Precisely," said Rufus. "I even have a photographic image of each member, although in every single photograph of Ranma Saotome, he or she appears to be posing for the camera." He leaned in closer. "And if it turns out that if you are _not_ working for the so-called good of the city," he said quietly, looking Zelgadis straight in the eye, "then your organization will be, shall we say, liquidated." 

Zelgadis matched his gaze. "If you succeed in 'liquidating' all of us, then a small rebellioin will be the least of your worries," he said. 

"Is that a threat?" asked Rufus levelly. 

"Not at all," said Zelgadis. "Merely a warning of what might happen if we're unable to defend the city." 

"I see," said Rufus. He stood up. "Well, it's been pleasant meeting you. I hope you fully recover from your injuries soon." 


	6. Technique

**_The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen_   
TOKYO**

Chapter 6   
Technique

"All right ... run it through again," said Zelgadis. 

This time, the Mandala was connected to a computer, which was making some attempt to explain the readings. Seifer was at the keyboard, rapidly typing in commands. "Okay ... here we go," he said, flipping a switch on the machine that the Mandala had been connected to before. 

The Mandala flared to life, running through several weeks' worth of data. Now and then the computer released a high-pitched warble as it found something it wanted, along with a number with an excessive number of digits. 

"So, what are we looking for, exactly?" asked Soma, leaning against one wall. 

"Disturbances from the same dimension as Zio's," said Zelgadis. "Specifically, any sign that anyone else might have come here, as well as a vague distinction of what they might look like, or at least general shape. There, see -- here's his specific appearance." 

On the screen was the date and time of Zio's appearance, and an image of a monochrome _shape_ that, if you squinted and unfocused your eyes, probably looked like Zio, shoulder-armor and black cape and all. 

"How about that frickin' _huge_ thing we saw a while back?" said Soma. "The underground one that's the size of a building?" 

Zelgadis moved over to the Mandala and pushed a button on the device next to it. "Hmm ... Nope, still not due to open for another few weeks. And it's definitely not from the same dimension." 

"What the ..." muttered Seifer. "Guys, come look at this one." 

The image failed to show anything humanoid. "Okay ... I _cannot_ tell what that is," said Soma. 

"It's two people," said Seifer. "Look, there's one head, there's the other, their arms are extended to each other there ..." 

"They look ... like Neifirst," said Zelgadis, squinting. 

"Oh wonderful. There's _two_ of her running around," said Soma. 

"Hmm ... she commented that her 'sister' was her opposite," said Zelgadis. "Hmm ... I wonder if perhaps, in that regard at least, she wasn't being truthful ..." He shrugged. "Either way, we'll want to find her." 

"Great plan," said Seifer. "So, who has the most destructive power in the group? Or at least is the most capable of defending themselves?" 

Vash walked into the room. "Hi guys, what's up?" He blinked. "Hey ... why's everyone staring at me?" 

* * * * *

"I'm not sure I can handle this," moaned Vash. 

"Quit whinin'," said Dita, aiming a strange device around the sewer tunnel. "We all have to do dangerous stuff in the League. Including, in your case, introducing yourself." 

"What, as Valentinez --" 

"Here we are at the right tunnel," said Dita. "Let's see ..." The device began to warble. "Okay ... looks like there's been nothing new since Neifirst and her sister arrived ... let's hope she didn't teleport away, and we have a _reasonable_ chance of figuring out where she went ..." 

"Like maybe ... that way?" said Vash, pointing at one archway, which had claw marks on it. 

"Yes, that'd be a clue," said Dita, as drily as only someone who isn't built with artificial saliva producers can manage. "Let's try that way." 

Vash beamed. He had Discovered A Clue. 

"You go first," said Dita. 

"Me!? B-but ... but I ..." 

Dita sighed. Sometimes she wished she _hadn't_ been given emotions, and would simply be unaffected by the fact that Vash appeared to have the combined intelligence and self-confidence of a roasted amoeba. "Just move, will ya?" 

"Um, okay!" said Vash, nervously stepping through the archway. "Ooh, footsteps in the dust!" 

There was, indeed, a thick layer of dust in this room, and it had obviously been disturbed by footprints. "Well, you definitely have a flare for the obvious," said Dita. "Hmm ... but there's only one set of footprints. If this is where both Neifirst and ..." She considered what to call the other one. "... 'Nei-second' showed up, shouldn't there be two of 'em?" 

"And if they were fighting each other," said Vash, "shouldn't the dust be a bit more disturbed?" 

Dita gave him a long hard look. That was the most coherent thing he'd said since she'd met him. "You've got a point," she said slowly, looking down at the dust. Only footprints had done anything to it. "Looks like someone wanted to cover up the violence." 

"And used some kinda magic or telekinesis to change the dust," said Vash, looking hard at it. "They might not have even gone that way ..." 

"In which case, we might walk into a trap if we go that way," said Dita. "Okay ... looks like this might be a dead end in terms of searching." She tapped the side of her head. "Okay, I'm gonna radio home, and tell 'em what's up." 

"Oh, you have a built-in radio?" said Vash. 

"I'm my own cell phone," said Dita. "One of Zero's modifications ... Huh, I'm getting more static than usual -- must be 'cuz we're underground ..." 

"Or maybe it's some sort of magical disturbance," said Vash. 

"What makes you say that?" asked Dita, frowning. 

Vash pointed. Dita looked. 

There was a girl in the far corner of the room who looked a _lot_ like Neifirst ... but her outfit was purple. 

Dita quickly reached for her handgun. In deference to the fact that she didn't know if this girl would be hostile or not, she didn't pull it out yet. In deference to the fact that she was not a complete idiot, she had her finger on the trigger and was ready to fire it in a split second. 

The girl flinched away, covering her face. "Don't hurt me!" she yelped. 

Vash put a hand on Dita's arm. "Let me handle this." 

"Are you sure it'll be safe?" said Dita. 

"Hey, I'll be fine," said Vash, who was never safe, especially around people who had heard the phrase "sixty billion" used in context. 

He walked over to the girl. "Hey," he said, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "We're not gonna heart you ... we're just a little bit jumpy cuz we had a run-in with someone who looked like you who said she was called Neifirst ..." 

The girl gapsed. "Neifirst!?" she exclaimed, all but shooting up to her feet. "Are you all right ...?" 

"Well, one of us got a few scratches in his armor, but we're all okay," he said. "We're not exactly bad in a fight ..." He exhaled. "What's your name?" 

"My name is NeiSecond," she said. "But you can just call me Nei." She blinked. "You said you fought her ..." 

"Oh, it wasn't too bad," said Vash. "Mostly we were just avoiding her attacks. But the way _she_ was dodging, _I_ only managed to get in one hit!" 

"You hit ..." The girl's eyes widened. "Who are you?" 

Vash struck a pose. "I am none other than Vash the Stampede, the brave, honorable hero of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen! I am he who never misses, and I have never been struck by any weapon! I have selflessly dedicated my life to two ideals!" 

Dita stared. This bore the scent of his general stupidity, only more strident. 

"What are they?" asked Nei, in the tone of voice of someone who wasn't sure whether they wanted to know. 

Vash struck a different pose, his hand raised to pass through two gestures. "LOVE AND PEACE!" he exclaimed. 

Nei looked helplessly to Dita, who shrugged. "Vash is ... Vash," said the Persocon. "I haven't seen him act _this_ goofy ... but in a fight, you just can't hit him." 

"I see," said Nei slowly. "You want to stop my sister ...?" 

"And someone else we think is from your world," said Dita. "You want to help us?" 

Nei nodded. "Definitely. Where are we going to go?" 

"We're ... well, it'll be better if we just showed you," said Dita. "C'mon, it's not that far." 

"Wait," said Nei. "Just ... concentrate, one of you, on where it is in relation to here ..." 

Dita frowned. "You know some sort of teleport magic?" 

"Not magic, no," said Nei. "But I _can ..._" She glanced at Vash, whose face was screwed up in concentration. "... um, teleport us." 

"If it's not magic, and you don't have any tech--" began Dita, and then stopped, because Nei clasped her hands together, and was now concentrating. 

A golden circle of light appeared next to her. 

"What is _that?_" said Dita uneasily. "It's ... it's not registering right for any of my magic scanners, and it's definitely not technological ..." 

"Ryuka," said Nei. "It's a Technique." 

"What _kind_ of technique!?" said Dita, staring. 

Nei frowned. "You don't have anything like them here?" she said. 

"Nope!" said Vash. "So, uh, what does it do?" 

"Just step through, and you'll be where you were concentrating on," said Nei. "It'll close when I go through it." 

Vash shrugged, and without hesitation stepped into the circle. He promptly vanished. 

"Ugh!" exclaimed Dita. "That was hell for my scanners ..." She winced. "It looked _kinda_ like a wormhole opened for him and then closed after him ..." She stepped into the -- 

***ERROR***

_Diagnostic cycle complete. Beginning activation cycle._

Dita opened her eyes, and found herself looking up at the concerned expressions of Nei, Vash, and Zelgadis. "Ugh ... what was _that!?_" 

"Apparently, your sensors got overloaded with conflicting data," said Zelgadis. "Your system simply gave up and crashed. You didn't lose any data before you stepped through it, though." 

"Good," said Dita. "I don't even wanna _think_ about losing my system, until I make another backup ..." She shook her head and turned to the newcomer. "So, Nei, did you want in?" 

Nei closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, there was a fire in them that hadn't been there before. "We have to stop Neifirst," she said. "I'll help -- even if it costs me my life." 

"I hope it doesn't go _that_ far," said Zelgadis. "But, well ... Welcome to the League, Nei." 

* * * * *

Neifirst looked at the crystal ball. Rufus wasn't the only one who'd tapped into the Orb. "She's joined them," she said coolly. 

"I thought they might," said Zio. "Are you worried?" 

Neifirst shook her head. "She's a weakling," she said. "Even if she's capable of going into a rage the way I am, her heart really isn't in it." 

Zio chuckled darkly. "Well, I'll let _you_ kill her," he said. "The others are more or less up for grabs between the two of us ..." He smirked. "Except for the blue-skinned one. I think I'd like to destroy him myself." 

Neifirst grinned. "Oh, I'm sure you'll enjoy it," she said. "So, what's our next move?" 

Zio gestured, and the view in the dark orb changed to show an overview of the city. "Well, here's a map of Tokyo," he said. "Where would you like to attack first?" 


	7. The Hunter Hunted

**_The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen_   
TOKYO**

Chapter 7   
The Hunter Hunted

There was a considerable percentage of the population of Tokyo that, by and large, wasn't human. About half of this consisted of elves, or aliens, or demons and half-demons, or people who were human in all visible and mental respect except that they technically weren't. The other half, though, consisted of mechanicals -- Repliroids, Persocons, Boomers, the odd cyborg, and anroids and robots of all other descriptions -- and due to laws of behavior older than the technology itself (though this is debatable, since the majority of the population of Tokyo was from different time frames), sometimes they went berserk and tried to kill the organic population. 

The Maverick Hunters were dedicated to defeating all mechanicals who went insane like this -- not just Mavericks, which referred specifically to Repliroids. And they wanted their members to remain safe; Dr. Andronauts, the head of the R&D department, was now showing Priss Asagiri, the current head of the Hunters, his latest development in that direction. 

"So, tell me again what you're showing me?" said Priss, looking through the window into the testing area at what appeared to be a square of nylon cloth -- the kind used in winter jackets -- suspended in a frame in front of a plasma cannon. 

"My latest invention," said Dr. Andronauts (who made every effort to sound like a stereotyped mad scientist). "I call it .... Cloth Armor!" 

"I see," said Priss slowly. She had been in a group called the Knight Sabers before they had been taken over by the Maverick Hunters, and they hadn't had an R&D department. They had already had what they needed, and on the whole it worked. "So ... Doctor, exactly _why_ do we need ...?" 

"You're going to be impressed," said Dr. Andronauts, and his finger hovered over a switch. "Our Junon cannon is particularly bright, so you might want to shield your eyes or look away for a moment ..." 

Priss took a step back as Dr. Andronauts flicked a switch. Some of the doctor's inventions were successful, and some were failures. Either way, they were usually impressive. As long, in the latter case, as being impressed _wasn't_ the last thing you experienced. 

"There!" he said when the light died down. "Look and see it!" 

There was a large burn mark in the center of the square. "Okay," said Priss, "I'm not going to say that it's like normal cloth, because it would be vaporized, but --" 

"Here," said Dr. Andronauts. "You'll understand when you see the other side ..." He flipped a switch, and the frame rotated around. 

The other side was, in a word, pristine. There wasn't any evidence that it had just been hit by _anything_, let alone one of the toughest cannons the Maverick Hunters possessed. 

"I'm impressed," said Priss. 

Dr. Andronauts beamed. "I knew you would be," he said. "I've even got a few plans to use it as armor. Just think about the applications -- the Hunters could have twice the defense, but weigh only 21% of their usual full-combat mass!" 

Priss grinned. "The armorers are gonna have a fit when they find they'll have to double as tailors," she said. 

Dr. Andronauts slapped his thigh. "Ha, yes," he said. "Zero gave me a few sketches of a design for a Cloth Armor outfit for him -- they look vaguely like his battle armor -- and I've had it worked on ... With your permission, I'll have the Hunters ready to produce them en masse ..." 

"Of course," said Priss. "Where _is_ Zero, anyway?" 

* * * * *

Zero was walking into the front lobby of MHHQ, and wearing a casual outfit instead of his armor. He was therefore entirely unrecognizable to most of the Maverick Hunters. 

"Hello, sir, how may I -- Oh, hello, Commander," said the man behind the desk. "Who is this with you?" 

"This is Dita," said Zero. "I keep wanting her to join the Hunters ... I thought giving her a tour might help." 

Dita gave a half-smile and a nod. "Hello," she said. 

"Ah, I see," said the man. "Just don't take her to any of the restricted areas. We don't need a repeat of that 'Guyver' incident ..." 

Zero snickered, heading towards the elevators in the back of the lobby. "Oh, she's trustworthy," he said. "But just cuz I'm not a complete _moron_ ..." 

"Oh, you mean there's a chance she might work for the Mavericks?" said the man. 

"Nah, I'm talking about what'll happen to me if Priss found out," said Zero, grinning. "See ya later." 

The elevator doors closed behind them. "So, ya wanna keep up this pretense, or should we go find Priss?" said Zero. 

"Well, that depends," she said. "Is she in a restricted area?" 

Zero snickered. "Look, she already knows about the League," he said. "I'll tell her to meet us in her office. We'll be fine." 

The elevator shook and the lights went out as a sudden explosion rocked the building. 

"I stand corrected," said Zero in the darkness. There was a flash of green and the door opened, revealing the recent remains of one of the organization departments. People were running around in a panic, running away from the far end of the room, which was in flames. _Blue_ flames. There was a low laughter audible there ... 

"I know that voice," growled Zero. His armor appeared in a flash of light. "You call the rest of the League -- I'll distract 'im until Seifer can get a Dispel in on 'im!" 

* * * * *

Seifer heard the alarms go off, and the phone didn't manage half a ring before he grabbed the reciever. "Hello?" 

_"Seifer, this is Dita,"_ said the voice on the other and. _"Zio's attacking the Maverick Hunters. We need you here fast!"_

"What!?" he exclaimed. "Okay, I'll get there as soon as I can!" He hung up. "Guys! Zio's attackin' MHHQ!" 

"Uh-oh," said Zelgadis, standing up from his workbench. "Come on -- Nei, I believe I know where they are ..." 

* * * * *

A squad of Maverick Hunters burst into the room -- the 12th Unit -- and paused when they saw Zio throwing bursts of darkness at Zero. "Let's get ready, men!" said the leader. "It looks like we might -- arrrghh!" His head went flying, severed in a shower of sparks, as Neifirst slipped by. Beamsabers swung at her and didn't even touch her. Plasma shots bounced off of her magic barrier. She gave a little sigh of contentment as she slashed the twelve Reploids in front of her to shreds. And then struck a combat pose as _another_ group of Reploids rushed in ... 

Zio smirked. "You couldn't defeat me before when there was five of you," he taunted, throwing a burst of wind magic at him. "What makes you think you'll be any good now?" 

"Absolutely nothing," said Zero as he jumped over the burst of wind. He landed, and tilted his head a moment, as if listening to something. 

"Then what is the point of coming _near_ me?" asked Zio. "Do you have a death wish?" 

"Nah, just waiting for some new developments," said Zero, firing his Z-Buster up at the dark magician. 

Zio didn't bother to dodge, and simply let it bounce off his magic barrier. "Oh, a diversionary tactic!" he said. "Oh well ... I'll just have to annihilate you, then." He raised his hand, and the image of the Beast appeared behind him ... 

Zero's eyes widened. "Ohhhh sh--" 

"BLACK WAVE!" There was a blast of darkness, a flash of red light ... and nothing remained of Zero except his crumpled armor. 

There was a gasp from the surviving hunters, who paused in their fight with Neifirst. 

"ZERO! No!" exclaimed Dita, a look of horror on her face. She'd known he might have lost ... but this? 

There was a flash of light, and a figure appeared behind Zio, dressed in red and black, and with red fins on a black helmet -- and long blonde hair. "Yo," he said -- in Zero's voice. 

"Huh!?" said Zio. "Oh, I see -- you teleported away to let your armor be destroyed. And now you merely have on a jacket. Let's see you beat THIS!" He threw a fireball -- smaller than the others he'd used, but it was fast, and struck before Zero had a chance to dodge. 

It left a rather ugly burn mark. "Whoa!" said Zero. "Don't get all tough on me _yet!_" He pulled out his Z-Saber and armed it. 

"Hmm ... Very clever," said Zio. "But I _still_ have my Magic Barrier." 

"Dispel!" 

"Damn!" 

Neifirst whirled around at the sound, not even seeming to notice when Seifer dispelled _her_ magic barrier as well. She saw her target and grinned as she began to close in. 

Nei saw her coming, and extended her claws. There was a fire in her eyes now that was only matched by that in Neifirst's. But she did not stand her ground. She charged towards her double, in exactly the same manner. 

Zio was now having a more difficult time deflecting all their attacks. "So you've let Neisecond join your little group," he said, and jumped to the side to avoid a shot from Zero's buster, Dita's handgun, and separate spells from Seifer, Zelgadis, and Soma. 

"Why shouldn't we?" asked Zero, sliding into place and neatly slicing Zio's cape off with his saber. 

"Very clever," said Zio, knocking Zero aside with another fireball. "But I think you should know something about little Nei ..." 

"And what might that be?" asked Seifer, slashing at Zio with his Gunblade. 

Zio blocked it his gauntlet. "She happens to be half monster," he said. "Neifirst was created in a genetic experiment by Earth colonists to copy the ability to use Techniques. And Neisecond is simply a copy -- born straight from her mind." 

"Well y'know what?" said Seifer, leaning in closer to him over the gunblade. "I think you should know something about _me_. For about a month, I was workin' for a Sorceress who wanted to compress time into a single instant and absorb all the power in the Universe. Zero -- the guy you just knocked down -- was built by a mad scientist who wanted to take over the world, or, failing that, wipe out humanity. Soma, the guy in white standin' next to me, is semi-part-vampire. In fact, he got his powers from Dracula, the baddest bloodsucker of 'em all. The blue guy, Zelgadis, got turned into a chimera by a dark priest named Rezo -- he was evil, and wanted to resurrect this big bad demon, kinda like you. Our buddy Vash the Stampede -- whom I don't think you've met yet -- has a _sixty billion_ double-dollar price on his head, which translates into roughly a trillion yen, cuz he supposedly destroyed a few _towns_ in his homeworld. We're all monsters, one way or another. So if you wanna scare us somehow, try somethin' else." 

"Hmm, yes, I suppose you're right," said Zio impassively, taking a step back. "Telling you that your new friend is part-monster isn't very scary." 

Seifer felt a chill running down his spine. When someone is told that something they have isn't scary, they _always_ pull out something that make you wish you hadn't said a word. 

The Beast loomed up behind Zio's head. "A Black Wave, on the other hand, is quite frightening," said Zio calmly, and raised his hand. 

There was the _whumph_ of a beamsaber, and a green glow appeared in Zio's chest. He looked down, a look of surprise on his face, and collapsed onto his knees. Zero deactivaded his beamsaber and took a step back, watching cautiously as if expecting an explosion. 

Neifirst threw herself to the side to avoid a vicious jab from Nei's claws, and blinked when she saw Zio fall. 

Zio placed a shaking hand on his chest. When he drew it away, his fingers were red. "Oh," he breathed. 

Neifirst raced over, ignoring Nei, and grabbed Zio by the shoulders, casting Ryuka even as she ran. She flung the two of them into the portal, which closed behind them, leaving only destruction. 

Zero exhaled. "Well, that was a little bit more tense than we needed," he said. 

"It'll get worse," said Nei, walking over. "Trust me." 

* * * * *

"Hmm," said Rufus Shinra, looking over at the half-repaired building. 

"Dare I ask what you're thinking?" asked Zelgadis. 

"Oh, just wondering what the _official_ statement should be," said Rufus. "Whether to laud the great work of the Maverick Hunters, or to mention your little League." 

"I just _know_ that your decision won't rest on a word I say," said Zelgadis. 

Rufus chuckled, and then closed his eyes, affecting the voice of a reporter. "The Maverick Hunters were hard pressed to combat the individuals known as Zio and Neifirst, but thanks to well-cast 'Dispel' magic, and the valiant efforts of Zero Omega, the star of the Maverick Hunters, they were forced into a quick retreat." He opened his eyes. "There. That work?" 

"Actually, I don't think Zero has a last name," said Zelgadis. "I think 'Omega' was slapped on by his fans, and someone in the press thought it came from a canonical source." 

Rufus shrugged. "Ultimately, the exact wording is in the hands of reporters, but I have ... a degree of control over what information is known." 

Zelgadis nodded. "I suppose I have to thank you -- for that, at least." 

Rufus smirked. "Save your thanks for later," he said. "You may need it." 


	8. Incident at the Abandoned Power Plant

**_The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen_   
TOKYO**

Chapter 8   
Incident in the Abandoned Power Plant

Nei giggled and squirmed a bit as the scanner's light touched her. "That tickles!" 

Dr. Andronauts peered at the console. "Well, her DNA is definitely partly human," he said, "but mostly there's stuff I've never seen before. There's some feline DNA, definitely -- which would partly explain the ears ... but I can't figure out the rest of it." He turned to face her. "What did you mention before? 'Palmans'?" 

"From the planet Palma," said Nei. "We're from ... another star system." 

"I see," said Dr. Andronauts. "So ... you were the result of a genetic experiment. I suppose that's nothing new here ..." 

Nei shrugged. "Actually, Neifirst was ... I'm sort of ... well, it was kinda like a split personality, and I was one of them ... um ..." 

"Is that even _possible?_" said Zero, leaning against a wall off to one side. His armor hadn't been repaired, and he was wearing his new Cloth Armor outfit. 

"I suppose it is, theoretically," said Dr. Andronauts. "Sort of like teleporting, but without a source, or perhaps a direct energy-to-matter conversion." He shrugged. "I know little of such things ... though it _might_ make the creation of assembly-line robots much cheaper ..." 

Nei shrugged. "I couldn't possibly do it again. It took too much effort ... and besides, I was trying to escape." 

"Oh well," said Dr. Andronauts. "It was just a thought." He looked up. "Anyway, pending further analysis of the data we've collected, we're done here. You can go home now if you want." 

"Okay!" said Nei, jumping off the bed. 

"Augh, no wait!" exclaimed Dr. Andronauts. 

He winced as the sirens went off. 

* * * * *

"You know, that was really stupid," said Zero as they materialized in the front of Ars Magica. 

"Aheh ... sorry!" said Nei sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head. 

"I'm not even gonna _ask_," said Seifer, looking up from a computer screen. 

"She accidentally set off the 'escaping subject' alarms when she bounced off after we were done analysing her DNA," said Zero, dematerializing his cloth armor and replacing it with a white T-shirt and a pair of jeans. "That bed didn't even have restraints ..." 

"Oh brother," said Seifer, clicking out of a window. "Y'know, if _that's_ all it takes to set you guys off, you must be REALLY paranoid." 

"Hey, don't knock it," said Zero. "We've almost been wiped out when we've underreacted to something. Where's Zelgadis?" 

"Right here," said Zelgadis, walking in from the back room. "And I'm getting a funny reading on the Mandala. Would you mind taking Soma, Nei, and Ranma to investigate it?" 

"Sorry," said Zero with a shrug. "I have to go on a frickin' routine patrol mission in half an hour. Won't be able to keep my job if I'm AWOL." 

Zelgadis chuckled. "All right, I suppose you know what's best in terms of the Maverick Hunters. Seifer ..." 

"Aww, _man_ ..." 

"You haven't really gone out a mission since Zio arrived," said Zelgadis drily, "and you have no other job. I mean, Ranma at least works at that restaurant, Dita works here, and Soma has a job at that clothing store." 

"What about Nei an' Vash?" complained Seifer. 

"They're too new," said Zelgadis. "And not many people are likely to want to hire someone who is wanted for destroying several towns. That kind of thing is bad for business." 

"Ah, whatever," said Seifer, standing up. 

* * * * *

In one of the seediest, dirtiest, most crime infested areas in the town, a manhole was lifted up from below. "Why is it that we always end up in the slums?" complained Ranma as he climbed out of the manhole. 

"Eh, you're just annoyed cuz of that Terry Bogard guy," said Seifer, climbing out after him. He'd left behind his grey overcoat, and wore instead a blue shirt and black pants. "Now THERE'S a guy who didn't know when to stop." 

"Yeah, really," said Soma, following. His white jacket sharply contrasted to, well, just about everything there. "Um ... Nei, are you comfortable?" 

Nei stopped tugging at the black out she was wearing as she sat on the edge of the manhole. "Um ... well ... no," she said. She shook her head. "I've never felt that comfortable about wearing clothes ..." 

Soma, Ranma, and Seifer exchanged an unreadable glance. "Well, I suppose that the outfit you came here in is ... um ... enough," said Ranma, carefully replacing the manhole cover. "But ... um, anyway ... where's the rift supposed to open, again?" 

"The abandoned power plant," said Soma. "Remember? Where Seifer made his big debut?" 

Ranma chuckled. "How could I ever forget?" 

"Hey, it's not _my_ fault they shut it down!" said Seifer. "They already had a few fusion plants to power the whole city. There wasn't any more need for an obsolete one like this. My arrival and subsequent actions had _nothing_ to do with it, nor did they have to do with the fact that this was a slum." 

"Suuuuuure," said Ranma, grinning. 

Nei looked from one to the other. It was obvious that it would be some time before she knew any of them as well as they knew each other, and she felt slightly left out. 

"Anyway, the plant's a few more blocks away," said Seifer. "We'll wait till we're there, and then ..." 

"PREPARE FOR TROUBLE!" 

"What the!?" exclaimed Seifer. All four of them moved into a combat stance, back-to-back, ready for an attack from any direction. 

"AND MAKE IT DOUBLE!" 

Seifer pointed upwards with his gunblade. On the roof of the building on the left, two figures, dressed in white, stood in a dramatic pose, which was immediately followed by what could only be a catchphrase. In fact, it was an entire catch_speech_. 

"To protect the world from devastation!" 

"To unite all peoples within our nation!" 

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!" 

"To extend our reach to the stars above!" 

'To begin every single sentence with an infinitive,' thought Soma, but then the two of them identified themselves. 

"Jessie!" 

"James!" 

They struck a different pose. "Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!" exclaimed Jessie. 

James said, "Surrender now, or prepare to fight!" 

A bizzare blue ... _thing_ suddenly popped up in front of them with a cry of "Wobbuffett!" 

A short, feline form kicked the creature aside. "Outta my way!" he said, striking a pose in front of Jessie and James. "Meowth! That's right!" 

"Wait a minute, she isn't with them," said Jessie. 

James snapped his fingers. "Damn, looks like -- What's wrong with _him!?_" 

Soma had a firm grip on the back of Ranma's collar, preventing him from running away. "He's afraid of cats," he called up to them apologetically. 

"Afraid of -- well, I'm technically not a cat," said Meowth. 

"Anyway, we apologize for wasting your time," said Jessie. "You wouldn't happen to know of a young girl, who looks quite like your cataphobic, same hairstyle but with red hair, would you?" 

"Um ..." Seifer considered this, and then pulled out a water bottle. He pulled the cap off and splashed it at Ranma. 

"Ack!" she said. "What the ...!?" 

"GAH! That IS her!" exclaimed James. "You! You prevented our men from apprehending Vash the Stampede five weeks ago! All of them were unconscious!" 

Ranma blinked. "Those dweebs were part of Team Rocket?" she said. "Makes sense ..." 

"Dweebs!?" exclaimed Meowth, and promptly leaped off the building towards them. "YEEAAAAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!" 

Ranma screamed, jumping into Nei's arms in terror. "CAT!" 

Meowth, his intended target someplace else, crashed into the pavement. In deference to the cartoon laws of physics, he was mostly unharmed. 

"Ranma's fear of cats proves more effective than the opponent's actual cat once again," said Soma, facepalming. 

"Um ... I have some feline DNA," said Nei nervously. 

"Thanks, I _really_ needed to know that!" yelled Ranma, her hair standing on end. 

"I _cannot_ believe Meowth just did that," muttered James. 

"Okay, screw this," said Seifer. "I know I'm probably gonna wish I'd saved these for later, but ... FIRAGA!" 

There was a massive explosion of flame, sending all three Rocketeers flying into the distance, with cries of "We're blasting off agaaaaaaaaaaaain!" They vanished off into the distance, with a sparkle of light. 

"That was really stupid," said Ranma, dropping out of Nei's arms and taking a step back from her. 

Seifer used his magic to heat up more of his water bottle and sprinkled it over Ranma's head. "I suppose I don't have to bring up _your_ situation," he said. 

Ranma rolled his eyes. "Pfft. Blame my dad. A _lot_ of my problems are his fault." 

"The sins of the father," murmured Soma. "Anyway, the power plant's over there. Let's go." 

* * * * *

The door to the plant opened up, unleashing a musty smell. No one had been there in quite a while. 

"I suddenly have a bad feeling about this," muttered Seifer. 

"Me too," said Ranma. "I think there's some sort of dark aura about this place ..." 

Nei suddenly gasped and pointed. The others turned. "Zio!" 

The Dark Magician was standing by a hallway, facing away from them. He turned to face them, a look of pleasant surprise on his face. "Ah, hello," he said. "Oh, do put away your weapons and get out of those ridiculous combat poses. Even if you get through my barrier, you still aren't equipped to defeat me." 

"What are you doing here, Zio?" snarled Seifer. 

"Oh, I was just looking," said Zio. "And I'm not going to stop you from doing the same. Be my guest." He chuckled darkly, and then vanished in a black haze. 

"Ugh ... He _really_ knows how to inspire hatred," muttered Ranma. 

"Must be a knack," said Soma, moving towards the passage. "C'mon, let's go." He stopped. "Unless this is some sort of trap ..." 

"Hmm, didn't think of that," said Seifer. "Think we should just head home?" 

"I second that," said Ranma. "It's too risky at this point. If we got all the rest of the --" 

"I think we should go in," Nei said suddenly, in a quiet voice. 

They turned to look at her. "What ...?" said Soma. 

"It's a ... precognition, or something," she said, sounding fearful. "We _need_ to go in ... otherwise, we might lose everything ..." 

There was a thoughtful pause. "All right," said Soma reluctantly, turning around. And then the four of them retreated into the dark hallways of the power plant. 

* * * * *

"Have they gone in?" asked Neifirst. 

"Your ... sister should handle things, if her precognitive ability matches yours," said Zio. "And don't worry -- even if we don't get the pleasure of defeating them ourselves, He will reward us by leaving them alive, and then we'll come in and finish them off ourselves." 

Neifirst grinned. "Excellent," she said. "And what of ... Her?" 

Zio grinned back. "On schedule or not, She will awaken soon," he said. "And then ... the universe shall be brought to nothingness!" 


	9. The Beast

Sorry about the delayed update -- FFNet's new QuickEdit system is just plain wreacking havoc with the formatting here. 

**_The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen_   
TOKYO**

Chapter 9   
The Beast

At the restaurant where Ranma worked, Akane Tendo paused as she did the dishes. (Nobody trusted her anywhere else in the kitchen.) 

"Akane? What's up?" asked Sakaki, a slightly older young woman with long black hair, looking over from where she was chopping carrots. 

Akane shrugged, and continued. "I dunno ... I just ... all of a sudden had a bad feeling about something ..." 

"Wonder what that means," said Sakaki. "Do you have some kind of psychic power?" 

Akane shrugged again. "Well, no, unless you count my ability to sense chi that I get from my martial arts training," she said. She felt a gnawing feeling in her stomach. 

"Do you think it might have to do with Ranma?" asked Sakaki as she resumed chopping the carrots. 

There was a pause, and then, in a quiet voice, Akane said, "I don't know." 

_She didn't bark back that it had nothing to do with him,_ thought Sakaki, filing that away for future reference. 

But after a moment, she felt it, too.

* * *

"Dang ... There wasn't even any _hint_ that he'd been hurt!" said Seifer. "Those Techniques must be pretty ..." He stopped, seeing that everyone's minds were elsewhere. 

They were in the depths of the power plant now, and it was pitch black except for a ball of light hovering around them, created by Soma. 

"I'm definitely sensing a dark aura," said Soma. 

"Me too," said Ranma. "It's not like it's _huge_, really, as much as it's more ... fundamental." 

"I have a bad feeling about this," said Seifer. 

"Yeah, that's what I mean," said Ranma. He frowned and turned to Nei. "You doing okay?" 

"I ... th-think so," she said. She was clearly terrified of something, but she was clearly controlling it better than most people would at that level, including -- Ranma decided to face the facts -- himself. 

"You look like you're shaking so much, if someone gave you a laser gun you'd put your signature in the target," said Seifer. 

"I-I'm fine," said Nei. "Don't worry about me ..." 

"Are you still getting some kind of ... precognition?" said Soma cautiously. 

Nei nodded, and shivered visibly. 

Seifer said, "Must be one hell of a vision." 

"Oh, hush," Ranma grumbled. "I think it's really time you WAUGH!" 

The metal floor he'd been walking across suddenly gave way, and he fell into the darkness below with a crash. 

"Ranma!" exclaimed Soma, looking down. "Are you all right!?" 

"Uh, yeah," said Ranma. He sounded like he was only ten feet below them. "Could you get me a light?" 

Soma simply dropped down into the hole below, creating another ball of light as he did so. Seifer shrugged, glanced at Nei, and then jumped in after them. Nei followed, seeming extremely reluctant. 

"Uh, thanks," said Ranma, getting to his feet. "But you didn't really need to jump in after me." 

"Anything broken?" asked Soma. 

"Nah, I've been kicked into worse things by Akane," he said. 

"My bad feeling just got worse," said Seifer. "Where are we, anyway?" 

"I think we're near the generators," said Soma. "There, see? It's one of the furnaces where fossil fuels were burned to spin the turbines and generate electricity ..." He stopped. There was a darker shadow there ... 

"Uh-oh," said Ranma. 

"Oh, _crap_," said Seifer. 

They had seen its face before, whenever Zio had used his Nightmare ability right before casting the Black Wave. It was massive, with a skull-like face, permanently locked into a leer of pure evil, baring its multitude of fangs. Its eyes blazed with a smouldering hatred for all that lived, and focused on each of them with a gaze that seemed to pierce into their souls. 

The rest of its body wasn't that much better. A huge, writhing mass of flesh, barely covering its bones, pulsating with untold power. It was clear that, however power Zio was, next to this beast he was _nothing._

Nei actually seemed close to tears from her terror. _"Dark Force,"_ she whispered. 

Soma didn't even bother to draw his sword. "Nei, get us the hell out of here!" 

_... but there was no way her Techniques could penetrate the Darkness that surrounded this beast._

"We are so fricking _screwed_," said Seifer. 

The last thing Ranma saw before the blast from its mouth engulfed them was Seifer pulling something out of his trench coat ...

* * *

"What the _hell_ just happened!?" exclaimed Dita, looking at the Mandala. 

"I don't know," said Zelgadis. "There's suddenly been an upsurge in dark energy where they are ... Let's see what the Orb shows us." He went to the orb. "Holy shit." 

"VASH! GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE!" shouted Dita. She went to the phone. "I'm calling Zero," she said. 

"What's going on!?" said Vash as he all but fell down the stairs. Then he yelped as he saw the image in the Orb. 

"I _wish_ we had more than eight members," muttered Zelgadis. "Let's get moving!" 

"Wait ... we're going to fight _that_ thing!?" exclaimed Vash. 

"Yes," said Zelgadis. "I know you aren't very experienced, but we're going to need all the help we can get here. And we may already be too late ..."

* * *

Rufus Shinra looked out over the city and felt a vague unease. This was an unusual experience for him, which didn't help. It was as if there was ... _something_ fundamentally bad out there somewhere. 

He finally had a focus for it when he saw the explosion in the slums. He went over and tapped a button. "Get me the Maverick Hunters," he said. 

_"Commander Zero was trying to call you, actually,"_ said the voice on the other end. _"I was just about to call you."_

Rufus paused. "Good," he said. "Patch him through."

* * *

Smoke was pouring out of the top of the power plant when the four arrived. Zero immediately pulled out his Z-Saber, and noted that Zelgadis had his own sword drawn. Dita had her blaster out, and Vash was merely standing there looking nervous. 

There was the sound of running footsteps, and then a squadron of H.O.L.D. troops and Maverick Hunters arrived. "Don't shoot!" said one of the H.O.L.D. troops. "Or ... stab, or whatever. We're on your side!" 

"I should hope so. I'm the one who called you," said Zero. He gestured towards the plant with his saber. "Shall we move in?" 

The plant _exploded_. 

It wasn't a nuclear explosion; it hadn't been a nuclear plant, for one thing. Nor was it the orange fireball that filmmakers are so fond of depicting when _anything_ explodes. No, this explosion was full of smoke, an instant of flame, and lots and lots of falling shrapnel and rock. 

Out of it, like a Balrog from a pit of fire, came Dark Force. There was the sound behind them of H.O.L.D. troops and Maverick Hunters running away. 

"Crap," said Zero under his breath. He glanced around, half-expecting to see that Vash had fled with the others. 

He hadn't. He was simply standing there, a hard look on his face, as if matching Dark Force's gaze.

* * *

The smoke settled in the pit that Dark Force had just vacated. Four figures lay there, unconscious. In twin columns of green light, Zio and Neifirst materialized. 

"So," said Zio, "which of the boys would you like to kill when you're done with your 'sister'?" 

Neifirst grinned wickedly, and looked up towards the figure of Dark Force for a moment, reveling in the sight of a being of pure destruction: a state she could only wish for. "Hmm ... I think I'll take the kid with the girl-curse on him," she said, looking down at Ranma and extending her claws. 

"Excellent," said Zio. "I was hoping you'd let me kill the twit with the gunblade -- he got on my nerves." He looked down at Soma. "Of course, I wonder if I'll be able to use the dark powers at my command to kill this one -- he _is_ part vampire, if I understand correctly." 

Neifirst nodded. "I want to savor this moment," she said ... and then they heard the cry. 

It was a cry of hope, piercing through the terror generated by Dark Force. It was a cry of a great, mystical bird as it flew down, it seemed, from above the clouds. 

The Phoenix swooped down towards the center of the combat, leaving a trail of fire in its wake. But it wasn't destructive fire; rather, it seemed to merely illuminate its gigantic wings. 

A red glow surrounded them all, as Dark Force turned its smouldering gaze up to glare at the Phoneix, but it seemed immune to the terror. Seifer, Nei, Ranma, and Soma were lifted into the air, their wounds fading away with a crimson flame ... 

... and then a huge blast of fire slammed into Neifirst and Zio, seeming to even pummel Dark Force, before the Phoenix finally took off and flew away. 

Seifer grinned. "I _knew_ that Phoenix Pinion would come in handy ..." 

Zio looked singed. His glare really _did_ smoulder as he stood up. "You will pay for that," he said, his composure cracked. "You and the rest of your friends are going to _die_." He reached down and grasped Neifirst's shoulder, and then the two of them vanished in a black haze. 

And then they were alone. Eight of them, arrayed against Dark Force. 

It swung a gigantic, clawed hand down at Vash, who simply jumped to the side, firing his gun. The bullet hit Dark Force square between the eyes, and it roared, shaking the entire city. 

This shook Zero out of the trance he was in, and he leaped into the air, swinging his sword in a complicated series of slashes at its face. Dita fully charged an X-Buster she'd gotten her hands on and fired it off at Dark Force. At the same time, Soma leaped into the air and slashed at Dark Force's back. 

Zelgadis closed his eyes. "Darkness beyond twilight, crimson beyond blood that flows," he murmured, beginning the incantation for a powerful spell. "Buried in the stream of time is where your power grows." 

Seifer, meanwhile, raised his hand and cast Ultima. White light exploded against Dark Force, expanding in a pearlescent sphere of energy before fading away. 

Nei threw her hands forward with a cry of "NaThu!" A yellow blast of light flew from her hands and knocked against Dark Force. 

"In thy great name, I pledge myself to conquer all the foes who stand," murmured Zelgadis, power beginning to surround him, "before the mighty gift bestowed in my unworthy hands." 

Zero noticed what Zelgadis was doing. "Aw crap!" he yelled. "Everyone, out of the way!" 

Dita grabbed Vash and threw the two of them to the ground a good distance away, even as Vash fired off another shot and hit Dark Force along the jaw. 

Ranma leaped into the air, drawing the power of Dark Force's hot chi into himself and combined it with his own chi. _"Hiryu Hyotoppa!"_ he called, throwing a powerful blast of wind at it from behind. 

Zelgadis raised his hand, and a glowing ball of energy coalesced into it. "Let the fools who stand before me be destroyed by the power you and I posses," he cried, and thrust his hands forwad. "DRAGON SLAVE!" 

A gigantic red-orange blast of magic flew forward and smashed into Dark Force. There was an immense release of magical energy, and an enormous yellow dome of light expanded outward, completely destroying the surrounding abandoned buildings, erupting outward in a blast that created a minor earthquake through the city.

* * *

Zelgadis stood, looking with satisfaction at the gigantic smoking crater in front of him. Vash, Zero, and Dita lay sprawled on the ground nearby, and he could see Nei using her healing Techniques on Ranma, Soma, and Seifer fifty feet away. 

There was no sign that Dark Force had even been there, save for a deeper blackness at the center of the crater that slowly faded away even as he watched. 

"Well," he said, "looks like we did it." And then he slumped forward, unconscious. 


	10. Decisive Action

**_The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen_   
TOKYO**

Chapter 10   
Decisive Action

When he awoke, he had a splitting headache. And anything that can split the rock comprising a golem (or one-third golem) has GOT to be intense. 

Zelgadis opened his eyes, wincing. "That was _not_ pleasant," he muttered. 

"I would assume that using a spell of that magnitude to _successfully_ destroy a creature such as Dark Force would take a lot out of even someone at your level of skill?" said a familiar voice. 

Zelgadis groaned inwardly. Only one person he knew would use phrases like "I would assume" and "take a lot out of" in the same breath, spoke with such crisply precise speech, and ended sentences like that which were _statements_ with a question mark in cold blood. "Hello, Rufus," he said. "Where am I, exactly?" 

"You are in my personal hospital suite," said Rufus Shinra, sitting next to the bed. "Very few people know of its existence, and even fewer are allowed to enter -- but that number now includes you, Ranma Saotome, NeiSecond, and Vash the Stampede. And Zero." 

Zelgadis thought about this. "The least-dangerous members of my group?" he said wryly. 

"Well done," said Rufus. Something in his voice said: I may trust your little group, but that doesn't mean I'm a complete idiot, just in case I can't. "I don't believe Vash the Stampede would have _let_ them do anything. And in case you're wondering if anyone tried to claim the bounty," he added, almost before Zelgadis had, "he's going here under the name of Valentinez Kaiser III." 

"I thought he might," said Zelgadis. 

"Indeed," said Rufus, and stood up. "Well, I have other matters to attend to for now. You just keep resting here -- we haven't had any demon-golem-human chimeras before, so I'm leaving things up to your judgement." He turned to leave. "And by the way, I believe you have some visitors."

* * *

"You doing all right, Zel?" said Ranma. 

"Oh, more or less all right," he said. "I think I'll do well after some actual sleep as opposed to merely unconsciousness." 

"What _was_ that spell you used?" said Nei. "I don't think even Megid would do that much damage ..." 

"Dragon Slave," said Zelgadis. "Actually, research has indicated that it was called the Dragon _Slayer_ after it was used successfully to destroy a dragon, but the name got corrupted." 

"In any event, nice work," said Zero. "Oh, and by the way, the consensus was that a name like 'cloth armor' was too dumb, so we renamed it to flex-armor." 

"That has a better ring to it," said Zelgadis. "Think you're going to use your old armor?" 

Zero grinned. "Oh, hell no," he said. "It impedes my agility, and isn't as protective as this." 

"Glad to hear it," he sad, and then turned his head slightly. "Vash? What is it?" 

Vash had been silent the entire time he'd been here, and he continued to be silent for a few seconds. "We've got to find Zio and stop him," he said, an odd note in his voice that sent chills down Zelgadis's spine. "No one's been hurt -- besides us -- but we've got to stop him before that changes." 

"What do you suggest?" asked Zero. "I mean, we've got _zero_ leads as to where he's hiding ..." 

"Is there anything we have that could see through invisibility magic?" said Nei abruptly. 

Zelgadis blinked. "Um, all kinds," he said. "Unfortunately, most of them require that you know _where_ the invisible thing is. Why?" 

"I ... heard a story in my homeworld," said Nei. "It was from a thousand years ago, and Dark Force was in it -- though there was a mistake in the translation and called it Dark Falz -- but its agent at the time was King Lassic, and he ruled from the Air Palace, which hovered miles above the ground and was hidden in an invisibility field. It was dispelled by a magical item called the Aero Prism ..." She shrugged. "I have a hunch that maybe Zio's in the Air Palace now ..." 

"Oh, right, that floating castle thing that appeared and disappeared the night Zio showed up!" said Zero. 

"That was the Air Palace?" said Vash. 

"Hmm ... I suppose that begs the question of how we could get our hands on the Aero Prism," said Zelgadis. 

"Or if we couldn't, where to look for the Air Palace with what we've got," Zero pointed out. 

"I've lost track of what we were talking about," complained Vash. 

"I have a general idea of where the Air Palace is," said Rufus, leaning by the doorway. 

This caused everyone to pause. _No one_ wanted to be the one to ask how long he'd been there. 

"_Where?_" said Zelgadis. 

"I'm sure most of you have seen footage of the Air Palace's appearance and subsequent disappearance," said Rufus. "However, the invisibility technique doesn't disguise the passage of air currents." 

There was a long silence. Then a slightly shorter one. Then Zero, a faint trace of awe in his voice, said, "You've been _tracking_ it?" 

"Yes, indirectly," said Rufus, nodding. "And we did our best to make sure that no one else knew about it, either. I'm sure Zio would have found a way to counter it if he discovered what I was doing." 

"So ... once I've recovered," said Zelgadis, "you give us the coordinates, we make our way to it ..." 

"... and then we kick Zio and Neifirst's asses all the way to Palma," said Zero, grinning. 

"Indeed," said Rufus.

* * *

In the depths of a castle that no one could see ... 

Zio sat numbly on the throne that had once belonged to Lassic -- or Lashiec, as he had also been known. But his thoughts were on much more recent events. 

_They destroyed Dark Force._ This was his only thought. He had worshipped Dark Force as a god before ... and even though he knew that Dark Force was merely a servant, it was still a shock. _They destroyed Dark Force._ Again he saw Dark Force facing that damned chimera, again he saw the orange blast of light, again he saw the dust settle and only the humans surviving ... _They destroyed Dark Force._ He didn't know where Neifirst was, or what she was doing, his mind was still on just one thought ... _They destroyed Dark Force._

**And soon you will destroy them.**

The voice was deep, feminine, and held a power in it, a power that could lay waste to galaxies, that could annihilate the universe if it felt like it ... more power, in fact, than Zio could possibly imagine. 

He sat there, agape, for several moments. And then his face broke into an enormous grin. 

**Dark Force is replaceable. But for the time being, you, Zio, are not.**

He felt a thrill at those words. He was irreplacable? In a way that Dark Force was not? 

He was _greater than Dark Force_? 

**They are coming for you. Let Neifirst deal with them, if she can. My final victory is at hand.**

Another thrill ran through him. His eyes widened, and almost seemed to shine. 

The Darkness was at hand.

* * *

"Ranma!" 

Ranma turned, and saw the one person who he simultaneously most and least wanted to see. "Hi, Akane," he said. 

"Where have you been?" she said. "I haven't seen you since that monster, that ..." 

"Dark Force," said Ranma, continuing down the street. 

Akane continued, unabated. "Whatever it was, I ... I ..." She paused, as if not sure she wanted to admit it. "I was worried about you! I thought you might be ..." 

Ranma stopped, and turned to face her. "Hey," he said. "Don't worry about it." He felt a blush spreading across his face, and tried to ignore it. "If ... if I got killed that easily, I ... I probably wouldn't even _be_ here!" 

Akane smiled faintly. "Yeah ... I guess you're right ..." 

Ranma nodded. "Right," he said quickly. "Um, let's just head back to the ..." He paused, tilting his head and listening. 

"What is it?" said Akane, puzzled. 

"Shh," said Ranma, moving closer to a nearby alleyway. 

_"Okay ... so we go in, destroy the Mandala, kill the Prism, and throw away the Protectors." _

"Wait, what?" 

"Uh, no, I thought we were going to kill the Mandala, destroy the Protectors, and throw away the Prism." 

"Uh, neither of those plans make sense, you two." 

"Huh?" 

"Okay, you_ figure out what we were supposed to do!"_

Ranma peered down the alleyway. Three squat masked, robed figures appeared to be sitting there, indiscriminately bickering. One of them, he noticed, was holding a strange crystal, or prism. Its light seemed to be the exact opposite of the three figures. 

"Well, it'd make _sense_ for Zio's orders to be to kill the Protectors so they're not a problem, throw away the Mandala so nobody'll find out about the PD, and destroy the Aero Prism so nobody can find anything else," said one of them. 

"In that order?" said another. 

The first one shrugged. "Works for me." 

The third one nodded. "Great idea." 

"**WAIT!**" 

The three figures (and Akane) jumped in surprise at Ranma's sudden exclamation. They were completely caught off guard when he leaped into the air, palms together, and screamed, "Mokou Kaimon Ha!" as he swung his hands apart. There was a burst of what looked like air, lancing outward at the three demons and smashing into their faces. They let out a collective howl. "What the hell was THAT!?" exclaimed the one that seemed to be the most intelligent. 

"Yamasenken Technique: Fierce Tiger Gate Open Blast," said Ranma, landing in an attack pose. "Now, I don't know who the Protectors are, but you're buddies of Zio, so that means I'm against it." 

"Oh, right -- he's one of them!" said the first one that had spoken. 

"We are Xe-A-Thoul," said the second one. 

"And you," said the third, "are about to get highly unlucky." 

Ranma tossed Akane a cell phone. "Akane, call 523-63417 and tell whoever answers that I'm fighting a trio of very stupid minions of Zio." He smirked, turning to face them. "Now let's do this." 

"Works for me!" said one of them. 

Ranma seemed to half-crouch, as if drawing within himself. "Give me your best shot," he said quietly. 

"What the -- I can't sense him anymore!" said the smarter Thoul. 

"Who cares, if we can still _see_ 'im!" said another, throwing a bolt of lighting at Ranma -- 

-- who vanished, almost at the same instant. 

"What the --" exclaimed the Thoul, and then howled with pain as Ranma appeared _behind_ him, jabbing at his back with a cry of "Haku Dato Shin Sho!" 

Almost as Akane hung up, she jumped in surprise as Zero and Dita materialized, followed by Seifer, Soma, and Nei. "Let's rock!" said Zero, bringing out his Z-Saber and charging at the first unoccupied Thoul, which launched a fireball at him. Zero deflected it back with his saber, while Nei leaped at it with a snarl, claws extended. 

Soma and Dita double-teamed the third, Soma using spells and Dita using her X-Buster from opposite angles. The Thoul snarled in rage and frustration, raising its hands to cast a spell ... but it was distracted by the sound of applause. 

Zero and Nei were standing in opposite post-having-slashed-nastily-at-their-opponent stances, facing away from each other, the now-smoking, seemingly empty robes of the Xe-A-Thoul they'd been fighting. Beyond them, Ranma and Seifer were smirking and clapping, the remains of the first Thoul behind them. 

The last Thoul considered this a moment, and then said, "SHIT!" It charged at Dita, who simply shot it in the chest; it disintegrated in a puff of smoke. 

"That was easy," muttered Soma. "Of course, after Dark Force, just about anything would be. Now ... let's see what all this fuss was about." 

The Aero Prism -- which was the only thing it could be -- lay intact on the ground, glittering. 


	11. Getting There Is Half the Fun

**_The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen_   
TOKYO**

Chapter 11   
Getting There is Half the Fun

"A vision," said Zio, narrowing his eyes. 

"Well, it was a dream, but it felt like a vision of the future," said Neifirst. 

Zio considered this. "Describe it to me," he said. 

Neifirst lowered her gaze, concentrating on bringing up the memory precisely. "I was in the antechamber where we planned that I fight them," she said. "Nei ran up to attack me ... and there might have been some fighting, but the result was that I ran her all the way through with my claws." 

"Much like you had before," said Zio. 

"Yes," said Neifirst, "but this time ... it was different. She tried to ... to punch me, or perhaps cast a Technique on me at point-blank range ... but then her body dissolved, and I saw myself rise up triumphantly." 

Zio grinned. "Well, looks like that part of the battle is under control," he said. "And think of all the power you'll have freed up." 

Neifirst grinned widely. "I hadn't thought of that," she said wickedly. "I'm going to _enjoy_ this." 

Zio smirked. "Go to your chamber," he said. "They're going to arrive soon, and you don't want to keep them waiting." 

She bowed, and left the room. Zio waited ten seconds, and then said, "What do _you_ think?" 

**Visions of the future are always unstable. But I believe that, superficially at least, events will transpire as she has seen it.**

Zio nodded. "Expected," he said. "Doesn't mean she can let her guard down, though." 

**Certainly. But be on your guard -- most likely, you yourself will still be required to fight.**

* * *

There was some debate over whether or not to use the Aero Prism, given that it had come at _such_ a convenient time, until Zero pointed out that they still didn't know _how_ to use it, and so it was decided that they'd go by Rufus's method; Zelgadis would stay behind to recover, and Vash would stay behind to protect him. 

Rufus gave them an airship to use: it was large, grey, and metallic, with a multitude of propellers. It also, for some reason, vaguely reminded Ranma of a space ship called the _Enterprise_, but Rufus told him that it was called the _Highwind II_; when asked what had happened to the first one, he simply said, "I left it behind."

* * *

The Air Palace had many diverse passages and catacombs, and there was rarely only _one_ way to and from any given room. Neifirst was approaching the antechamber where she was going to meet the League from a _different_ passage when she heard Zio's telepathic contact. 

_They're coming,_ he said. _Be on your guard -- just because you've seen your victory doesn't mean it will be easy._

She nodded. "Right," she said. "I'm ready for anything."

* * *

_"This your captain speaking! The Tokyo Airship _Highwind II_ is now on our approach to what _looks_ like nothing whatsoever!"_

"Never let Seifer near an intercom on a flying vehicle again," muttered Ranma, reclining in his chair in the meeting room. 

"Agreed," said Soma, grinning. 

"Let's see, how'm I gonna explain this to Priss and the news without giving us all away," mused Zero, leaning, as usual, against the wall near the door. "Hmm ... I'm leading, uh, a small group of the ... hmm ... best fighters I know to deal with the ongoing threat of Zio ..." 

"If we're the best fighters you know," said Dita, who was sitting on a horizontal pipe running along the corner between the wall and the floor, "then why haven't you asked more of us to join the Maverick Hunters?" 

"Well, first of all, cuz then you'd be subject to their rules and orders," said Zero. "We'd never get anything done." 

"Good point," said Dita, and glanced around. "Where's Nei gotten to?" 

"I think she's on deck," said Soma. "Last I knew, she had one of those looks on her face like Vash does when he's acting 'mysterious' instead of 'lacking in brains'."

* * *

"Thank you, Mr. Almasy, you can turn off the intercom now," said Rufus drily. 

"Aww ..." He promptly switched it off. "You're no fun." 

"The head of the executive branch of the city's government isn't _required_ to be 'fun'," said Rufus dryly, putting a hand over his mouth to hide a grin. "In fact, there's a very real possibility that every single one of us is going to die quite soon. NeiSecond, what are you sensing?" 

Nei was staring out the front viewport at the cloudbank, an unreadable expression on her face. "They're expecting us," she whispered. "They know we're here ..." 

Rufus frowned. "That's a lower tone of voice you're using," he murmured. 

"You mean she sounds like Neifirst when she talks like that?" said Seifer, giving her a hard look. 

"I do?" said Nei, in a deeper voice. It sounded like Neifirst. "Yeah, I guess I do ..." She shrugged. "Well ... we _are_, um, practically identical twins," she said in her normal voice. 

"Ah, yes, Zero mentioned something about that," said Rufus. "Still, and I'm sure this is going to be a foolish question, but how do you know --" He stopped when a visible shudder ran through Nei's body. 

"She's laughing at us," she whispered. 

And then, on cue, there was a ripple of air ahead of them, and the Air Palace appeared. 

The airship shook. "Sir! An invisible force is grabbing the ship!" said the pilot, looking nervous. 

"Don't fight it," said Rufus. "At least, unless they start to do anything dangerous ..." 

The airship moved closer to the black spires, which seemed to point upwards at the sky in triumph -- a triumph over life, and hope. 

The rest of the League ran into the bridge, looking down at the castle beneath them. "Yikes," said Ranma. 

"It's bigger than I thought," murmured Soma. "I can definitely sense Zio and Neifirst in there ..." 

The _Highwind_ moved towards a flat area, wide enough to safely land on. "Begin the landing cycle," said Rufus, as they began to move closer to the ground. 

The landing pads extended from the bottom of the airship, and there was a loud _thunk_ as they touched down. 

"Status report," said Rufus impassively. 

"Um ... all systems fully functional," said one of the other HOLD troopers. 

Rufus nodded. "Get us ready for takeoff at a moment's notice. In fact," he added, as he turned towards the exit, "get ready to take off _without_ us."

* * *

The group stepped out of the _Highwind_ and approached the large, forbidding double doors in front of them. To Soma, it felt strange having Rufus Shinra leading the group instead of Zelgadis; he knew that Rufus _had_ to be a good leader, in that he'd successfully figured out the League more or less on his own, but wasn't that part of the problem right there? 

He sighed. "How do we get in?" 

"This is where beamsabers come in handy," said Zero. 

"Uh, no, allow me," said Ranma, stepping forward. He adopted a martial arts stance, palms held together, and then leaped into the air with a cry of "Mokou Kaimon Ha!" He flung his arms outward, and several blades of air flew out from his hands, slamming against the doors. 

There was a pause, and then the doors ponderously fell apart. 

Rufus gave Ranma a sidelong look. "Interesting technique," he said. 

"Hey, it worked," said Ranma. "Not that I generally like to use it for that -- my pops actually developed Yamasenken as techniques for a robber bursting in through the front door." 

"I see," said Rufus, his expression carefully blank. "And I suppose Umisenken, therefore, must have been the techniques of a burglar sneaking in?" 

"That'd certainly explain some of the things he did when he was practicing it," muttered Seifer. "Stealing that circle outta the newspaper, _removing_ the building's _foundation_..." 

Nei giggled. "He did _that_?" she said. 

"Don't laugh," said Dita. "He damn near blew the whole place up when all that magical stuff fell half a meter." 

"Gentlemen, we are approaching a hostile situation," said Rufus, and entered the palace. 

"He's worse than Zel," muttered Zero as they followed.

* * *

Inside, there was darkness, except for regularly spaced torches. And it was, indeed, a twisty maze of passages, all alike. Nei led, since, she said, she could practically _feel_ where they had to go next, and frankly none of them had any other idea how to go about travelling throuh the area. 

"Tell us again what your relationship is with Neifirst, exactly," said Rufus. 

Nei sighed. "There was ... a genetic experiment," she said. "I'm still not sure who made it, but ..." She shrugged. "NeiFirst was the result. She went berserk ... killed her creators ... you know what that's like." 

The others nodded. They knew what that was like. In fact, Zero was an example of this. 

"And ... I'm ... I was a part of her mind," said Nei. "I ... I watched all the killing, the destruction ... and I was scared ... I ... I didn't want any of that, so ..." She shuddered. "I separated from her." 

"How, exactly?" asked Rufus, as they approached a set of double doors at the end of a long hallway. The doors opened as they approached. "It's important to know exactly how the process works so that we can find out how it happened before we encounter Neifirst." 

"Too late," said Neifirst, landing in the middle of the room from above, grinning at them. 

The doors slammed shut behind them. 

"Such convenient timing," said Rufus. "Now, may I ask what _you_ may have to say on this subject?" 

Neifirst smirked. She held her hands out to her sides, and extended her claws. "Just what I had to say the last time, minus what you already know," she says. "Short version: I know I'm probably overmatched, especially at seven to one odds, but if you _do_ kill me ..." She grinned wickedly. "... you get to see your little friend Nei die." 

"What?" said Rufus. The word had no trace of incredulity, or any sign that he hadn't understood; he just wanted to know more. 

"Hmm," said Neifirst, tilting her head as if considering this. "Nah, I think I'll kill you all instead." She grinned, and began to glow an eerie blue color, almost like a hologram, before a ghostly image of herself appeared, hovering over her. "I've seen it," said both of them. It sounded eerie, demonic. "A vision of the future: all of you fall, and then I run Nei through with my claws!" 

Nei _moved_. 

One minute, she'd been all but cowering behind Ranma; the next, she launched herself forward like a wild animal. Grinning ferally, Neifirst leaped forward to meet her. 

There was a loud _klash_ as their claws met, and they began viciously slashing at each other, each parrying the other's blows. And Nei was getting the worst of it -- the gigantic ghostly image of Neifirst could reach farther and hit harder. 

"Should we do anything?" said Rufus conversationally. 

"Outta my way," said Zero, shoving him aside. He and Dita each pulled out a small blaster, took aim, and fired. The image's claws flashed, and the shots were deflected. 

"I've got a shot at this," said Ranma. He stood as if he was about to to use the Fierce Tiger Gate Open Blast attack ... 

... and then in one swift motion, Neifirst flung Nei aside and raised her hands towards Ranma. "GiGra!" she snarled. 

The air seemed to ripple for an instant, and then Ranma felt himself falling backwards, as if from a great height, and crashed into where the ripple was, before they were suddenly thrown apart, collapsing in a heap. 

Neifirst grinned widely. "Yes," she growled. "Just as I saw in my vision!" 

Nei looked at them, and then turned to face Neifirst. There was sadness in her eyes as she stood there, and retracted her claws, standing with her hands held slightly away from her body. 

Neifirst lunged forwards, and then the tips of her claws stuck out of Nei's back in a trickle of redness against her purple outfit. 


	12. Complications

Author's note: Y'know, there's just something special about getting a review saying "More, please." 

**_The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen_   
TOKYO**

Chapter 12   
Complications

Ranma looked on in horror as he saw Neifirst run Nei through with her claws; in the back of his mind, he knew that some of the magic they had _might_ heal her, but that did nothing for the knot of fear in his stomach as he saw a drop of blood trickle down her back where the claws went all the way through. 

And Neifirst laughed. "It's just like it was before, isn't it, my dear sister?" she said. "It's just as it was in my vision ... There, now you try to cast one last Technique at my face, and then get on with melting, so I can go and do my victory pose!" 

Nei had managed to raise her hand to Neifirst's face, and touched her forehead. There was a sudden pearlescent glow. 

"You're casting ... Res?" said Neifirst, puzzled. And then she abruptly laughed again. "Oh, this is rich! You're making my victory over these others _more_ certain! You -- ackk!" 

A grimace spread over both their features, as Nei seemed to squeeze on Neifirst's forehead. Her hands glowed, crackling with greenish energy. 

"NO!" screamed Neifirst. "I won't let you do this! I won't ... let ..." Her ghostly double reached down to try to grasp at Nei, but the hand went right through her as if it was insubstantial ... 

... which it was, but that hadn't stopped it before, had it? 

Ranma's eyes widened as he saw the blue form start to ripple and shimmer, as if it was starting to lose power. Neifirst screamed, retracting her claws and clutching Nei's hand on her face, as if trying to pull it away, but it seemed almost as if it was fused on. 

And then, like a snowball in a microwave, Nei's body fell away, and her body melted into a grey, gooey liquid. The blue glow vanished, and Neifirst fell backwards and collapsed. 

They slowly got up, shakily (except in the case of Zero and Dita, who merely needed to realign their balance systems) at first, and Zero approached Neifirst's prone form, a look of fascinated horror on his face. Come to think of it, all of them had expressions like that -- even Rufus, though he was trying to hide it behind thoughtfulness, which didn't work. 

Neifirst sat up, wincing as if she had a gigantic headache, and then smiled faintly. "I ... I did it!" she said, in Nei's voice. 

"Did ... did what?" said Zero, throwing in some uncertainty for good measure. 

She stood up, and something in her stance was ... different. In fact, if it wasn't for her outfit and the gruesome melting they'd seen less than a minute ago, Zero would have _sworn_ it was Nei. 

"I ... I took over this body!" she said, and let out a giggle. She raised her arms, in a pose of victory. "Yes!" she crowed, jumping for joy. 

There was a pause. Then Ranma said, "Okay, what just happened?" 

"Well," said Neifirst, "like I said, there were two minds in this body, but I was one of them, and it escaped and got a new body, but I was still in the first one, controlling the new body like it was mine, and now, uh, I've taken control of _this_ body." 

There was a pause. "I don't get it," said Dita. 

"It's very simple," said Rufus. "Neifirst had the psychological syndrome known as 'multiple personality disorder', but unlike most people who experience this, both personalities were conscious simultaneously and only one of them had constant control of the body. One of them used what limited power she had to create a body of her own, which she then operated like a puppet -- still technically from within Neifirst's mind -- and saw and felt things as if it was her own." 

"So what the hell's that grey stuff?" said Seifer, nudging the soaked purple leotard with his foot. 

"Base genetic material," said Neifirst. "It was used to make clones, genetic life forms like me and ... like me, that sort of thing." 

"And you used your power to mutate those cells to a recognizable form," said Rufus, nodding. 

"So, which are you? Neifirst, or Neisecond?" said Zero. 

She giggled. "Second," she says. "But just call me Nei. Even though the body was hers, I've sort of driven it out, and I'm in control now ..." She stretched her arms upward. "Mmm ... I feel so ... _alive ..._" 

"NOT FOR LONG!" 

They whirled. There was a blue, glowing haze in the air, surrounding the puddle that had been Nei's old body. The liquid rippled, and then suddenly rose up into the air, taking on a humanoid shape, acquiring color, eyes, a face ... 

"Looks kinda like Shiva," murmured Seifer. 

Neifirst stood before them, her face a mask of hate and rage; she seemed more muscular, powerful, her nude form -- devoid of any "interesting features," as Soma would have called them -- glowing blue. She extended her claws (not weapons, but actual feline claws) silently -- real claws don't make any sort of sound like _snakt_. 

"She ... she did the same thing I did," said Nei, her eyes widening. 

"Eh, don't worry," said Soma, drawing his sword. "The tables are turned -- _you're_ the one with the real body this time around!" 

"Let's take this one away from her," said Rufus, pulling out his shotgun. 

Neifirst snarled, and swung her claws at them, seemingly pawing at the air -- but blue-green slivers of light flew from her hands, crashing into Seifer, Ranma, and Dita, knocking them to the ground in an instant, looking like their faces had been attacked by a psychotic cat on speed. Zero charged forward, saber drawn, and Neifirst parried with a glowing blade of her own that suddenly materialized in her hands. Soma vanished in a column of light and materialized across the room, throwing a blazing ball of energy towards Neifirst, but she easily dodged, throwing herself backwards, and the blast hit Zero instead. 

There was the click, and she whirled, finding herself staring down the barrel of a shotgun. "Dodge this," said Rufus, and pulled the trigger. 

Obediently, she dodged. The bullet flew over her head, and she kicked him in the stomach, then raised her claws to run him through ... 

... and then screeched as Nei's claws impaled her from behind. 

"I'm _not_ gonna let you hurt anyone else!" she said, and then withdrew her claws, before plunging them into her back, going right through her heart. 

A look of surprise and shock crossed Neifirst's face, and she waved her arms wildly -- and then she slumped forward, falling off of Nei's claws, letting out one last gargle, before the blue glow dimmed, and her eyes lifelessly closed. 

Nei sighed, retracting her claws. "It's over," she said quietly. 

"Not yet," said Rufus, getting shakily to his feet. "We still have to defeat Zio." 

"First, let's get everyone back to working condition, all right?" said Zero, starting to get tired of Rufus's casual disregard for things like "morale" and "physical condition of allies." 

"That would be wise," said Rufus. "Nei, do your healing Techniques work on mechanicals such as Zero and Dita?" 

Nei frowned. "I don't think so ... but ..." She raised her hand towards Dita, and there was a pearlescent glow. The scratches vanished, and she sat up, blinking in surprise. 

"That was actual magic," said Soma, walking over to them. "And it was ... really powerful, on top of that." 

"Interesting," said Rufus. "The power used to sustain your old body's shape must have been phenomenal, or else you would have been as powerful as she was, and now the situations are reversed. I wonder what _you'd_ be capable of without ..." He stopped when he realized that no one was paying any attention to him, since they found the fact that Nei was healing everyone with a flick of her wrist to be _far_ more interesting.

* * *

"So ... it seems that Neifirst has lost," murmured Zio. "Ah, what the hell, I'm starting to sound like some comic book supervillain." He grinned. "Time to unleash the monsters!"

* * *

The Air Palace rested on a gigantic chunk of mountain. And at Zio's command, the very bottom broke away, plummeting towards the outskirts of the city. It smashed into a warehouse and exploded, shards of rock flying in all directions ... 

And when the shards landed, they transformed.

* * *

The first thing Zelgadis heard was the crash downstairs. "Uh-oh," he murmured. "Vash? Check that out, will you?" 

"Um ... Yes, sir!" said Vash from another room, apparently trying to sound like a soldier being sent to what he knew was his doom. Zelgadis heard footsteps, and then silence. 

A moment later, a dark shape loomed over the bed. "Aheh heh heh ... I have you now, Zelgadis," it said in a dry, inhuman voice. "You survived the wrath of Zio once ... but now it's time for you to die." 

"And you are?" said Zelgadis, looking up at the robed and masked figure before him. 

"I am called D-Elm-Lars," it said. "Heh heh heh heh ... time to die, chimera!" 

There was a click, and then D-Elm-Lars whirled around. "Oh, come ON," it said, and then, with a thunderclap, a greenish mist exploded out from the back of its head. Its robes collapsed as if there was nothing in them, revealing Vash, his gun raised, a hard expression on his face. 

"Interesting," said Zelgadis. "I thought your interest in 'love and peace' might make things difficult ..." 

Vash shook his head. "I have no remorse for inhuman monsters," he said. "And that wasn't even alive -- just a puppet of Zio's." He aggressively kicked at the fallen robes. 

"I see," said Zelgadis, sitting up. "What's going on outside?" 

"Monsters," said Vash. "_Lots_ of monsters. The streets are _swarming_ with them." 

"Oh well," said Zelgadis. "Do somethign about the ones in the immediate area, would you?" Vash nodded and left the room. 

Zelgadis reached over behind the bed, felt around a bit, and produced a small vial. "Hmm ... this may become necessary ..." 

He waited until he heard Vash's gunshots outside, as they moved up the street. Then he heard the sound of breaking glass, and monsters moving through the shop. "You won't survive this time, Zelgadis!" he heard the screech of another D-Elm-Lars. 

_Won't I?_ thought Zelgadis. _Ah, well -- there's always a possibility._

He twisted around to face the headboard of his bed, and pulled it down, revealing a wall panel that he then moved aside, revealing a vertical tube. He opened a hatch on the tube, then undid the cork on the vial and tossed it into the tube, hurriedly closing the hatch, the panel, and then moved up the headboard. 

The vial plummeted into the depths of the store, a green plume of smoke pouring out of it, and it bounced off a box marked "DANGER VOLATILE CONTENTS!" The ensuing explosion destroyed the entire storefront. This triggered a temporal reversion spell, bringing the store back to its state immediately before the monsters had broken in ... except for the monsters themselves, of course. 

"There we go," murmured Zelgadis, relaxing in his bed as he heard the expiring curses of the D-Elm-Lars as the caustic burning magical substances began to devour it. "Now it's just up to Vash and the others and, Gods help him, Rufus Shinra ..." 


	13. Swarm

**_The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen_   
TOKYO**

Chapter 13   
Swarm

A bizzare monster hovered towards Vash: it looked like two rocky, hovering dinosaur skulls, fused together at the neck. Vash fired his handgun at the spot where they met, and they crashed to the ground and disintegrated. He was immediately set upon by a strange, headless-looking lizardine beast that had lost its left arm somehow, and he raised his arm. There was a thunderclap of a gunshot, and it fell back, dead. 

He heard a chitinous clattering behind him, and spun around. Standing there was a red, twelve-foot-long scorpion, stinger raised to strike ... 

... when all of a sudden, it was knocked to the side by a burst of fire. 

Vash whirled. Standing there was a man with pale-blue hair in a ponytail, wearing a white cloak over a green jumpsuit. The scorpion turned, hissing with rage, and the man raised his hands and shouted, "Tandle!" An orange bolt of lightning rained down, blasting the creature to bits. He rushed over towards Vash. "That was nice work," he said in an easygoing manner. "You might want to work on watching your back, though." 

"Who're you?" said Vash. 

"Name's Rune Walsh," said the man. "Come on, there's plenty more monsters, and that's just on this street!" He turned to run. 

"You a Palman?" asked Vash as he hurried after him. 

"Gee, how'd you guess?" said Rune. 

"Well, I'd swear that first attack was a Technique, not a spell," said Vash, firing at a gigantic dragonfly. "The only other people I've seen who could do that were from your universe." 

"Yeah, I guessed that I was somewhere else by all the shifting colors and my magical snese about this," said Rune. He shouted, "Flaeli!" A fireball -- an actual spell this time -- blasted aside a large, burly monster. "So, uh, what's this world called, anyway?" 

"The city is Tokyo," said Vash. "You're on a planet called Earth." 

Rune whirled. "What!?" He had to duck the attack of another of the one-armed headless lizards, and slammed his staff against it before unleashing another Tandle. 

"The planet is called Earth," said Vash with a frown. "Uwaaaa!!" He ducked as another oversized dragonfly launched a stinger at his head. 

With a snarl, Rune threw another Flaeli at it, disintigrating it. "Just my luck," he muttered. 

"Huh?" said Vash. 

"Let's just say I don't have fond memories of Earthlings," said Rune. "Anyway, I probably shouldn't be prejudiced against them -- That what I think it is?" He gestured up towards the looming form of the Air Palace. 

Vash took a guess. "Yes," he said.

* * *

The _Highwind II_ took off, even before its passengers had boarded, but that was okay, because Nei used her magic to teleport them to the inside. Which was just as well, since a swarm of monsters promptly began pouring out of the Air Palace, and thus trying to get back out on foot was a difficult proposition at best. 

"Battle stations!" said Rufus, almost before he was done materializing. "We'll be on deck, handling things our own way." He ran out without bothering to see if he was being obeyed. 

"Such confidence in his underlings," muttered Soma as the HOLD troops began scrambling around in confusion. "You heard him! Let's get going! By the way, any particular reason you brought Neifirst's fricking body along with us?" 

"Just so Zio doesn't revive her," said Nei, charging after him. 

The deck was crawling with monsters. Rufus, Nei, Seifer, and Soma began throwing casting spells as soon as they were on deck, while Zero and Dita fired their weapons and Ranma used some long-range attacks. The _Highwind_ lurched as its guns blazed and the monsters attacked. 

"There's too many of them!" said Ranma, as he resorted to kicking one double-skull into another. 

"Cover me!" shouted Rufus, and ducked down, reaching into his jacket, and pulled out a blue Materia orb. He placed it into a slot on his shotgun next to a green one, and raised it up. He was surrounded by a greenish-yellow glow, and then ... 

There was a gigantic explosion of lightning, seeming to strike everywhere at once. Most of the monsters then fell, paralyzed or dead. 

"Nice work," said Soma. 

"Thank you," said Rufus, using his shotgun to take out one of the last remaining enemies. "Now let us deal with the enemies on the surface."

* * *

Vash had explained the whole situation to Rune, and his mind was spinning. He'd never known a "joint world" like this could exist. Of course, he'd never known Earthlings to be anything but evil, either, so what did anyone know? 

Rune was about to throw a Flaeli at another monster, when he was abruptly slammed to the side by Vash. A corpse of a monster crashed into the ground where he'd been standing. 

"Look!" said Vash, pointing up. 

Rune looked. "What's _that?_" he said, narrowing his eyes. The first thing that came to mind was the spaceship _Landale_, but it was definitely the wrong shape ... 

"My friends are on that airship," said Vash. 

"Looks like they managed to deal with heavy fire," said Rune wryly. A sudden thought struck him. "Say, is it just me, or are there a lot fewer civillians around here than there should be?" 

"They're underground," said Vash, and began reloading his pistol for the seventh time. "There's an extensive system of bomb shelters down there. With enough warning, a nuclear strike could happen and there'd be not many casualties." 

Rune considered this, searching his memory for the phrase "nuclear strike," even as he used his staff like a baseball bat to knock one monster into another, and smirked when he made the connection. "So this Rufus Shinra you mentioned -- he's a good guy?" 

"No, probably just enlightened self-interest," said Vash, and then closed his handgun. "But that happens to everyone here if they aren't actually pure evil." 

"Such as Zio," said Rune, pointedly. 

"Such as Zio," said Vash, nodding. "You know, I'm impressed. This is just about the most coherent conversation I've had." He fired his gun through three monsters at once. 

"Nice shot," said Rune. "But, uh, what did you mean by WATCH OUT!" 

A red bolt of light descended from the sky and became a figure with blonde hair, dressed in red and black; Rune's first thought was that it was a woman, but then something about it reminded him of Wren .... 

"Whoops! Sorry, Vash, almost hit ya," said the figure. "Who's this guy?" 

"Rune, this is Zero, he's a sort of super-advanced robot guy," said Vash. "Zero, Rune, he's a Palman. He's fought Zio before." 

"I see," said Zero. "Anyway, I thought I'd join the fun!" he said, slicing the nearest three monsters in half with one smooth sweep of his beamsaber. 

"Nice," said Rune. This guy was good. And the fact that he was a "super advanced robot guy" explained why he couldn't sense any life force in Zero, as well as why Wren -- an advanced robot in his own right -- had been brought to mind. He unleashed another Tandle. 

Another monster -- this one burly and crablike, built like a tank -- charged forwards without warning and knocked him to the ground. Vash shot it between the eyes, and it exploded in a burst of glowing yellow orbs, which flew away, leaving a multicolored trail of light. 

"Pyreflies!" exclaimed Zero. "He's bringing out Fiends!?" 

"What are Fiends?" said Rune, getting to his feet and casting Hewn, a spell that obliterated several enemies with wind. A few more of them exploded into the glowing orbs. 

"I think they're ghosts that didn't want to leave this world and transformed into monsters," said Vash. "Uh, hey, there's a lot more monsters now!" 

"You're right," said Rune. "Looks like things are heating up ..." 

And then, without warning, there was a feminine cry, and a shockwave slammed through the ground, ripping through most of the monsters in front of them, and coming to a stop right before it hit the trio. 

"Oh no," muttered Zero. 

"What the hell was that!?" exclaimed Rune. It was definitely magic, but it was more powerful than most magic-users he knew. And he was one to make the comparison. 

"The most embarassing kind of person to deal with, whether they're enemies or allies," said Zero. 

The dust settled, revealling a brown-haired fifteen-year-old girl in a white outfit with an _extremely_ short skirt and a red cape, weilding a hammer. "There we go!" she said, slinging the hammer over her shoulder; she had a slightly deeper voice than Rune expected. 

"A Magical Girl," finished Zero. "I think that's ... yes, it's Valkyrie Yuuki." 

She waved to the group. "Oh, hey! You're Zero, right?" 

"Yes," said Zero, with a much steadier voice than Rune was expecting, and once again he was reminded that Zero was mechanical, and thus had better control of either his emotions or his voice. 

"Cool!" she said. "Looks like we've taken care of this street for now!" 

Zero paused, as if listening to someone, and then said, "I've just gotten a call from HQ. The Maverick Hunters have about a tenth of the city under control at the moment, and some other tough guys are working on making things at least _kinda_ safe." 

"Is _everyone_ in this city ridiculously overpowered?" complained Rune. 

"Is he a new guy?" asked Yuuki. 

"Yep," said Vash cheerfully. 

"I'd say the numbers are around three hundred organic humanoids who can keep up with mechanicals like me, out of a population of 12 million," said Zero. "And you're one of 'em." 

"I'll just head out now," said Yuuki, and leaped into the air. A pair of gigantic white wings sprung from her back and she flew away. 

"Nice," said Rune. "So what's say we go up against the Big Z now?" 

"Hey, _I'm_ the Big Z!" said Zero. "Vash, how's Zelgadis doing?" 

"If he's progressing at the rate he was when I left him, he should be doing fine," said Vash. 

Zero nodded. "Great. Let's get the rest of the League back together, then take on Zio." 

"Out of curiosity," said Rune, "why doesn't this League of yours have more members? Why don't you get some more of 'em to join us?" 

"Because there's an estimated three hundred out there, and all of 'em have relatively big egoes and are used to being the 'main character' as it were," said Zero. "If word gets out we exist, half of 'em'll be lining up at our door to join us, half will be saying 'why didn't you make _me_ a member', plenty will be suspicious of our quote-unquote 'true motives', and if any of them actually _do_ get in, as like not they'll try to take us over." 

Rune laughed. "Is that right," he said. 

"You won't _believe_ the number of humans we've rejected from the Maverick Hunters due to attitude problems," said Zero. 

Rune raised an eyebrow. "The ...?" 

"My group," said Zero. "We're here to make sure _robots_ don't go insane and try to kill everyone. Okay, let's head back to Ars Magica." 


	14. Showdown the First

**_The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen_   
TOKYO**

Chapter 14   
Showdown the First

They were back at Ars Magica, getting ready for the next fight. 

"How much control," said Zelgadis, who could now stand without undue difficulty. "do you have over the Neifirst persona?" 

"Uh, more than she had over me, which is none," said Nei, and then laughed. "I've always had more self-control, anyway." She had changed into the (now reparied) purple leotard, and now there was _no way_ to tell the difference. 

Actually, there was. Nei seemed to have a greater sense of power about her, that had nothing to do with physical appearance. 

"I know you recovered Neifirst's body so that Zio wouldn't," said Zelgadis, "but why did you have it placed in a liquid-proof container?" 

"So I could get _complete_ control," said Nei, and walked over to the large black box that stored Neifirst's erstwhile body. 

"Zel and Rune haven't seen this yet," muttered Nei as she opened the top, exposing her moribund twin's form. 

"Ugh," said Rune. "Looks kinda watery ..." 

"You ain't seen nothin' yet," said Seifir, smirking. 

Nei placed a hand on Neifirst's head. There was a blue glow, and Neifirst seemed to awaken ... 

Behind her, _everyone_ jerked into combat stances. 

But Neifirst only looked up at Nei. A smile crossed her face, as if she was finally at peace. And then her body melted away into the liquid form of the biogenetic material. 

There was a collective sigh from everyone (including Zero and Dita, who didn't need to breathe but they knew how to emote). 

"That," said Ranma, "was awesome." 

"Is there anything more that needs to be discussed or done?" said Rufus, who had been standing in the doorway the entire time (which is why Zero had been next to Zelgadis). 

"No," said Zelgadis smoothly. "Shall we go then?" 

"Yes," said Rufus. "We shall."

* * *

Dita stayed behind with Zelgadis this time, since she really _wasn't_ as good in a fight as the others. Nei used her Ryuka technique to teleport the group to the chamber where they'd fought Neifirst. 

"I'll go first," said Rune, and opened the door to the next passageway. 

There was a D-Elm-Lars standing there, looking surprised inasmuch as it was possible to tell with the mask. "What the ...!? Holy crap, it's L--" 

Rune blasted its face with a fireball, and it collapsed backwards, dead. 

"They never learn," said Rune. "Let's go."

* * *

They had just finished cutting a swath through a large group of both Fiends and monsters of Zio's own creation, when Rune abruptly turned around. "Okay, I've felt all your stares on me at various points for the past fifteen minutes," he said. "What's up?" 

"What was that D-Elm-Lars about to call you?" said Rufus, always one to deal with topics of conversation with a maximum of speed towards the point and a minimum of tact. 

"He was going to call me Lutz," said Rune, leading the way through a large archway. "I'll tell you about it --" 

A gigantic bird with an eagle-like beak swooped down at them from above with a screech. 

"A frickin' Zuu!" exclaimed Seifer, raising his gunblade. 

"-- later," finished Rune, shifting his grip on his staff. 

Ranma ran up and gave it a vicious kick to the side of its head. Rufus, Zero, and Vash fired their guns, Seifer and Rune used fire spells, Soma cast a spell that caused a large number of scythes to fly out and tear through its wings, and Nei -- 

-- threw a beam of yellow light that tore through the Zuu's body. It let out an agonized squeal, collapsed to the ground, and vanished in a cloud of pyreflies. 

All eyes turned to Nei. "What the _hell_ was _that_!?" exclaimed Seifer. 

"Uh ... NaThu?" said Nei, looking a bit embarassed. 

"Okay, that was definitely a Technique," said Rune, "but I've never _seen_ any variation on NaThu that _powerful_." 

"I ... didn't even know I could use _any_ of those lightning Techniques ..." said Nei nervously. 

"Perhaps Neifirst knew them," said Rufus. "Regardless, may we please continue?" 

Rune crossed the passage without another word and pulled the opposite door open. 

Immediately, the atmosphere changed. 

The chamber they entered was colored in green and black, with a still greater sense of dread than the rest of the Air Palace, which they had more or less gotten used to. It was a long throne room, with a black pathway leading to the other end, at which was an altar, a statue of Dark Force hanging over it. 

"Rune Walsh," said the voice of Zio, standing behind the altar, and every syllable dripped with hatred. "It's good to see you again, _alive._" 

"The feeling is mutual," said Rune, smirking as the group approached. "Nice decor you've got here. Didja import it directly from your Tower, or is it just modified." 

"An alteration, although frankly I didn't do much," said Zio, approaching them. "But I'm sure you're aware that things are a little bit different this time." 

"That's right," said Rune. "We're now eight to one instead of five. And this time, they're _all_ as powerful as I am." 

"Oh, I know," Zio purred. "But I'm referring to the fact that I'm working _directly_ for the boss this time." 

There was a pause. "I'm not going to bother doubting that," said Rune, "but I promise you this." He raised his staff. "Everyone here is gonna be alive, when this fight is over, for me to explain to them what the hell we're talking about." 

Zio laughed. "Oh, I'm _sure_ they'll find out in any case ..." His eyes glowed red. "... once they awaken in the afterlife!" 

The room faded away, replaced by a blue mist. Zio waved his hand, and his Magic Barrier appeared. 

"Oh no you don't!" said Seifer. "Dispel!" 

"Just thought I'd make sure," said Zio. "NIGHTMARE!" 

A face appeared above him, but this time it wasn't that of Dark Force. It was humanoid, feminine, and had sleek grey skin. Her eyes were closed, but when she opened them ... 

It was like Dark Force was in the room again. Dark Force, except that they couldn't fight it directly. And their target was much smaller. 

Seifer reflexively fired his gunblade at the face. "No! Attack Zio!" said Rune, raising his staff like a shield. The sense of oppression dissipated somewhat, as if it really _was_ a shield. "You guys attack Zio! I'll do what I can to hold him back!" 

Zio laughed out loud. "You won't be able to _touch_ me!" he crowed. "I am _invincible_ now!" 

"Not ... quite ..." said Rufus, raising his shotgun. "Bolt3!" 

A veritable shower of lightning tore through Zio's body. His face contorted in a grimace of pain as the smell of ozone filled the air ... but when the lightning dissipated, so did the grimace, replaced by a feral grin. "Anyone else want to try anything?" he said viciously. 

Seifer raised his hand, and Eden appeared. But Zio simply threw a ball of darkness at it, and it exploded in a cacophonous shower of sparks. "Sorry," said Zio. "Guardian Forces won't avail you now. _My_ turn! BLACK TORRENT!" 

The woman's mouth opened, and a gigantic cascade of fire and blackness. Zio _caught_ it in his hands, and threw it at the group. There was a tremendous explosion of light and sound, and they all felt a sensation of simultaneously being frozen and scorched ... 

Zio grinned as all eight of them collapsed on the ground. "Anyone left conscious?" he said, almost cheerfully. 

"Not quite," said Soma, pulling himself to his feet. 

"Ah, the vampire," said Zio, grinning. "But nobody can withstand me one on one ... Are you prepared to face these odds?" 

"He doesn't have to," said Rune, pushing himself up. "He's got one of the greatest Espers ever on his side!" 

"I once thought I could never kill a man," said Vash, wincing as he stood up. "But I know I _can_ kill a monster!" 

Nei got to her feet without a word. Her face showed no pain, or fear, or anger -- just a grim determination, a silent vow that anyone who tried to cross her would find themselves disinclined to cross anyone ever again. 

"S'matter?" said Zio, grinning at her. "No pithy comment to make?" 

The girl was silent for a moment, as if concentrating on something. Then she raised her hands, and a blue glow began to surround her. And, to the surprise of all, a ghostly image of herself appeared above her, hands raised in an identical pose ... 

And then she grinned back at him, and it was a hundred times more vicious. She raised her hands from her sides in fists, extending her claws. "Hi there," said Neifirst. "Remember me? This is the phenomenal might of the Numan project, turned right back at you." 

And for the first time, Zio's smile cracked. 

"Let's hang back and use long-range attacks," Rune muttered to Vash. The blond-haired gunman nodded hearty agreement. 

Neifirst charged forward, claws swinging. Zio's difficulty in using his magic to keep her from dismembering him then and there was nothing on how hard it was to deflect the claws of the projection. 

Then she stopped and ducked, striking a pose. A bullet from Vash and a Tandle spell from Rune both flew _through_ Neifirst's image, which didn't even flinch, and both slammed directly into Zio's chest. 

He let out a cry of rage, and swung his fist. Mirroring it, a black sphere collided wiht Neifirst, who winced at first, but then snapped into a feral grin again. "That's what it looked like when Rufus attacked you," she said helpfully. 

A small white bat flew over Zio's head. It morphed into Soma, who plummeted, his sword pointed straight down, and he swung it as he landed, shearing Zio's arm clean off his shoulder. 

Zio screamed. It was abruptly cut short as Neifirst raced forward and ran him through with both sets of claws. He shook as another bullet from Vash hit his stomach. 

Rune moved forward for the killing blow. Zio snarled, opening and closing his mouth a few times, but no sound came out. 

Then he was surrounded by shadow. The woman's face, now contorted with rage, was glowing more brightly, and Zio stood up, his eyes glowing a brighter shade of red. "BLACK TORRENT!" he screamed, and the blast engulfed them, knocking them all to the ground. 

Only one remained standing. "It is done," said Zio, grinning. "I have defeated them all ... and now this world is mine!" 

"Not quite," said a voice behind him. 

Zio whirled. "You!" he said. "What _are_ you, anyway?" 

"I'm part-vampire," said Soma, standing straight up. For some reason, it looked for an instant as if he was wearing a tuxedo -- but no, he was still wearing the same white jacket and blue jeans. His eyes had a strange yellow coloration to them now, with red irises. "Don't you know what a vampire is? Or did you just hear the term, and knew that it applied to me, without bothering to find out what it meant?" 

"A kind of demon," said Zio, his composure slipping. 

"Oh, yes," said Soma, and he grinned, baring his teeth. And now he had _fangs._ "A very special kind of demon. I'm practically darker than _you_ are, Dark Magician Zio." 

Zio smirked then. "You have no idea," he said. "You have no _idea_ what you're up against if you say that -- and you've _seen_ Dark Force in action." 

Soma raised his hands. "Then give me your best shot," he said. 

Zio laughed. "Gladly," he said. "In fact, now that I don't need Dark Force, I'll give you _my_ best shot instead of getting any help from _Her_." He raised his hands. "BLACK WAVE!" 

The black tendrils flew out towards Soma and struck him in the chest ... and he didn't even flinch! He was bathed in an aura of shadow as he said, "Thanks. I didn't know how well I'd do without some sort of recharge!" 

Zio felt the first twinges of fear. "What _are_ you!?" he exclaimed. 

"Just call me Dracula," said Soma, and Zio could only stare agape as he flew towards him, sword raised to swing ... 

There was a clap of thunder as Soma sliced off Zio's head, and the dark magician's body disintegrated in a terrific flash of light. The air crackled with released energy, and the woman's face disintigrated in a shower of sparks, her face locked in a grimace of hatred. 

Rune was half-sitting up. "What _was_ that?" he gasped. 

"Save it for later," said Soma. "Do you have anything that can revive Nei?" 

"What? Oh ..." Rune got to his feet, and raised his staff. "Rever!" 

The Technique surrounded Nei with a pearlescent glow, and she sat up shakily. "Wha ...?" 

"Get us out of here, quick!" said Rune. "From the sound of it, the Air Palace is starting to fall!" 


End file.
